Exploring California, Step by Step

I use a Fitbit to keep track of my exercise. It’s fine motivational tool. When I look at the “dashboard” and see that I’ve been sitting around all day, or that my morning exercise walk only generated 15 very active minutes, I get up and do something physical.

But the Fitbit is only a high-tech pedometer. It measures steps, but it doesn’t understand those steps.

Case in point: After I got back from my three-day backpacking trip at the Point Reyes National Seashore in Northern California, I logge...