After reading the land acknowledgement page and getting your questions answered on the about this project page, you're ready to start hitting the highlights! But how to start? I'll do my best here to help you out with that delightful challenge.

1. Situate yourself on the section of trail you are exploring.

On Google Maps, all the trails are connected. This website attempts to break them up into more digestible sections. Using the maps at the top of each section page and the descriptions next to each embedded map, take a second to figure out which part of IslandWood you are starting from. Within the embedded Google Maps windows, you can use the compass, the draggable 360-degree rotation of each image, and your own knowledge of IslandWood's trails to locate yourself. Each section page starts at the location marked "YOU ARE HERE" and moves in a generally southward direction.

2. Use the white arrows (or the round, translucent grey arrows if you are on Google Maps on a desktop or laptop) to navigate from each starting point.

Most of the arrows in the embedded maps point in the direction of travel they will take you in. Don't feel limited to each starting location! Move around. See where you can get to from each spot. On Google Maps, you can also use the little street view window where the yellow person moves along with you to move from photo sphere to photo sphere by clicking on different blue dots or to see where you are from a bird's-eye-view of IslandWood.

3. Use this tool in whatever way it works for you!

I might include little exploratory prompts, questions you could ask students or friends, or fun facts and stories at or about different locations on this website. Feel free to use them when teaching or guiding. You can keep this website open on your phone at all times or open it once and never look at it again. Whatever works for you!

4. Know that this tool isn't perfect.

There are some trails that I didn't take enough photo spheres on to make the navigation fully accurate. You may find yourself zooming through some bushes and trees on your way from one point to another. If it feels like you skipped a large section of trail, you did not miss any intersections. I felt it was a better use of my limited time and battery power to focus on intersections and landmarks than on uninterrupted sections of trail. I do my best on this website to warn you if something is particularly wonky, like a weirdly cropped photo sphere or the part of the Marsh Loop trail where you'll travel through instead of around Cattail Marsh, but please forgive me if I've missed some things.