Find Hundreds of Hikes Here

A blast of spring just hit the Midwest recently, which prompts us outdoorsy types to pull out an atlas and dream about upcoming summer hiking adventures. I just came across a cool idea-generating tool to give my route planning hundreds of fresh ideas. If bushwacking, trail mix and topo maps are in your lexicon, don't miss Backpacker magazine's Find-A-Hike.

At Find-A-Hike, you simply scroll across any U.S. state and find detailed descriptions of Backpacker magazine or reader-suggested hikes. Each adventure includes distance, difficulty and identifies the applicable USGS topo map. Directions/Waypoints are also available in GPS-speak. Granola technies will love Map Tools, which includes Elevation Profiles, various printable maps, sendable GPS files and even phone-view.

My family is traipsing around the Adirondacks this summer -- Find-A-Hike's comprehensive coverage of the area is a great place to start trip planning. Mountain lakes, here we come.