Working remotely doesn’t mean you have to stay indoors – in fact, it’s healthier for you to take breaks and get outdoors in the fresh air and sunshine!
Being stuck indoors by yourself – or with your kids – with no end in sight could make you nuts.
Paved trail beside Big Lake in Umstead State Park
Getting out on the trail on your own, or with 10 or fewer members of your family or friends, could help bring you back from Crazy Town.
If you’re a hiker local to Cary or Raleigh, NC, you know the nearby hiking places, and have been on the trails.
They’re beautiful, have varied terrain and are easily accessible.
So, you’ve been getting into hiking lately, and really love it. You are energized, and less stressed than you’ve been in a while.
Author near summit of Mont Blanc
You also think you could burn calories hiking and hike to lose weight – and that’s absolutely true!
The question is, do you need to train like you’re going to climb Mount Everest to make it happen?
Probably not.
But wouldn’t you want to be fit enough to hike Everest if you got the chance?
My goal is to always stay fit enough to do anything – whether it’s an afternoon playing disc golf or a week hiking the Inca Trail – with just a little bit of extra training if I need it. Continue reading Easy Guidelines for Hiking to Lose Weight!
Whether you’re exploring in the wilderness or taking a fitness jog in a county park, it’s not unusual to find evidence of other people who’ve visited before you.
Trail sign in Palo Duro Canyon NP in Texas
Most often it’s in the form of trail signs giving practical information.
Sometimes personal tokens are left in an attempt to send a wish or a prayer to a loved one, or even to make contact with some greater universal entity.
You might also see official tributes to people who have contributed in some way to that green space.
Sculpture in the Jean Miro park in Barcelona, Spain
Or more simply, art.
Whatever it is and whoever it’s for, signs and tokens left along the trail are an attempt to communicate with others.
When I was planning my Utah hiking trip, I asked for advice from hiker friends who had visited the area before:
Which National Parks should I visit? How much time should I allow for each park? Which trails are a must-do?
Towers in the Fiery Furnace
I was grateful for their insights, and found the advice to be mostly accurate – except for when it came to hiking Arches National Park.
Some feedback I got was that I didn’t need to plan for more than an afternoon at Arches National Park hikes, but we spent a day and a half there and still didn’t get to everything.
Entry to Fiery Furnace are at Arches National Park
While it could be said that Arches isn’t very challenging for expert hikers, there’s no doubt that it is breathtakingly beautiful for everyone!
Recently I did some hiking in Utah, specifically visiting several of the famous Utah National Parks. The trip to southern Utah was primarily to hike, but also to take in the beauty of the desert in the Spring.
Hikers on the Queens Garden Trail in Bryce Canyon
Photos can’t convey the scale of the mountains and desert, or the multitude of colors and rock formations we drove through while crossing southern Utah – but I tried anyway.
A few of my pics are in the text below, and you can see more in my detailed posts about Arches National Park and Bryce Canyon National Park.
Great! Like any other event outside of your normal daily routine – hosting a party, having a night out, or even creating a special meal – it starts with planning and research.
Don’t know where to start? I’ll help.
Let’s begin by figuring out what your perfect trip would look like….
These days, it’s more important than ever to maintain good health and fitness, no matter what your age.
But you’re busy, and can’t possibly squeeze in time for fitness training around your demanding job, family and household duties. I get it.
What’s on your bucket list?
Inundated with things that we have to do, it’s easy to put off optional activities – including taking better care of ourselves physically.
But if you (like me and many other older adults) want to enjoy bucket list adventures that include active travel and hiking in remote places, it’s time to start training!
Each year, starting January, I do an 8-week hike training program to get ready for upcoming Spring hikes – and beyond!
View at Hanging Rock State Park
It’s really to get fit for outdoor adventures in any month after weeks of Winter hibernating and celebrating 🙂
Read on to learn how you can personalize your training, with our without my 8 week plan, to help you get ready for adventure at any age!
It could be due to health considerations, or maybe you don’t enjoy all of the setup and planning – or you could just really appreciate modern conveniences on your vacation.
Whatever the reason for your preference, there are some good options to camping available, even in more remote places.
Some people think that you always have to camp out if you want to do any really interesting hiking.
Camp with bath house and dining hall at Torres del Paine
That’s really only true for some very wild or undeveloped areas, where you need to backpack for more than a day to get to your final destination.
There are similar longer remote stretches on the Pacific Crest Trail and the Appalachian Trail, where you may have to camp for a night or two because you’re so far away from civilization – which is kind of the point for those kinds of trips 🙂
That said, there are a wide variety of beautiful and interesting day hikes – in and out in the same day – that may be found both in the US and internationally, with opportunities for lodging other than camping out.
Have you suddenly become a home-schooler and/or a remote worker because of the new social distancing requirements?
Hopefully, this won’t last forever.
Meanwhile, you could take the kids outdoors for a hike to make it feel a little less oppressive.
Running a 5k with my five year old.
In spite of my asthma, I’ve always been an active person.
Becoming a mother didn’t change that, or my desire to be outdoors in Nature.
But it did change how I could participate if I wanted (or needed) to include little ones.
Here’s how I did it!
When I first discovered recreational hiking, I was working at a full-time tech job, a single mother of a toddler with few babysitters around, and my closest family was 1500 miles away.
So most of my activities (outside of work) included the company of my little Mini-Me, and hiking was no exception.
