Ask Tom Watson to describe a good hiking trail, and he'll say it depends on the person using the trail.
There's no right or wrong answer.
"The old saying is, 'Another person's ceiling is another person's floor,' " said Watson, of Appleton, Minn., a longtime freelance outdoors writer and author of several books on trails, camping and paddling. "There's a trail out there for pretty much everybody and for young and old alike."
Watson released the fourth edition of "60 Hikes Within 60 Miles: Minneapolis and St. Paul." Dubbed by publisher Menasha Ridge Press as "the decisive guide to day hikes around the Twin Cities," the guidebook highlights trails within the seven-county Twin Cities metro area with maps, photos, trailhead coordinates and narratives about each of the featured routes.
Watson's trail expertise extends far beyond the metro area. He also wrote the narrative for "Rails to Trails Minnesota," published in 2016, which highlights Minnesota trails developed using old railroad right-of-ways. Minnesota has 70 rail-to-trail networks, and more than 1,900 exist across the U.S., according to the book.
Bottom line, there are miles of trails out there just waiting to be explored, including an abundance in Minnesota and North Dakota.
"There's plenty of opportunities to get outdoors at whatever level you're comfortable at, so just get out there and give it a try," Watson said.
