Find a Hike with Google Earth

If you're an outdoor type person and always looking for new places to explore, things just got a little bit easier for you.

Google announced a partnership with Trimble Outdoors to provide Google Earth users information about hiking trails and opportunities. Through the user of GPS technology the two companies will provide users with detailed information about hiking locations and the trails you'll set out on.

Trimble Outdoors website explains how easy it is to add the layer to your own Google Earth:

• Start Google Earth
• Go to "Layers" in the Sidebar on the left
• Expand the "Featured Content" folder under "Primary Database"
• Click the "Trimble Outdoors Trips" checkbox
• In the main window, pan and zoom into the area of interest to you until you see red lines and dots indicating Trimble Outdoors trips
• Continue to zoom in until you see little "Green Hikers":
  
  Depending on the zoom level and context, clicking a Green Hiker will open a popup window with detailed information about a trip or its element, for example a photo as shown above.

Based on the screenshots from their announcement... it looks like people in California have a lot of exploring options...