Probably one of our biggest accomplishments as a family of four to date is completing 50 hikes in one year-all four of us together. I admittedly take on a goal, project, job, or challenge with blind (possibly stupid) optimism. Fifty isn't even that many! We could do a few hikes a weekend. We could be done by June. We launched 2020 with a hike. On that hike, it was you, Baby Waider, who thought we should try to do a hike each week in 2020. I said that would be 52 hikes. Your response was let's try to do 50 hikes in 2020! I was game. Hiking is one of my absolute favorite past times. I love being an observer or guest in the wilderness. Hiking has always been one of my favorite ways to recharge, unplug, and refocus my energy. I want both of you to also find joy in this activity so this was the perfect way to encourage that! Plus we were going on an amazing PNW vacay so it would be the perfect way to ensure that we got out to see the wilderness there.
2020 was...2020. We did not make it on 50 hikes. We did not make it on our amazing PNW vacay. We did buy a boat and two new campers, but we did not do the hiking we had intended. It was a rebuilding year.
Enter-New Year's Day 2021. We went on a hike on a gorgeous day. I had downloaded the hike on AllTrails and like I often do in the hills...We got lost. We were on the completely wrong trail and did an almost 5-mile loop. We were not dressed for winter weather and it was getting dark. Thankfully we made it back to our car but did not make it to the summit we had hoped to see, which was Boulder Hill. We decided that the next day we would venture out again to that hike. It was a breathtaking bluebird day. We decided that 2021 would in fact be our year to get those 50 hikes.
The funny part about social media is that it really holds you accountable for your own goals. I announced our challenge and people began following our journey. Again, my initial thought was that 50 hikes just aren't that many hikes. In some ways I was right and in some ways, I was so so wrong.
Regrets
The only regret I have about this challenge is that I did not do better record keeping of mileage and hike location. Lots of our hikes are done where there is no cell service. I would get home, forget to post the hike, and then I would no longer have the details. My phone would die or connection would get interrupted on our hikes so AllTrails would not properly record the hike. I thought once I posted on Instagram it would be easy to go back to the posts and see how many we did and it wasn't. I wish I would have been better about logging our hikes and jotting down a few lines about the hikes. Some hikes were definitely more memorable than others. In good ways and in bad ways.
Takeaways
I had no idea what this challenge would do for our family. What I expected were fun memories in the forest with one another. What resulted was so much more in all the best ways. We started out with semi-whiny kids, a neurotic poodle, and two adults who were determined to make the best of this adventure. What we ended with were two unstoppable kids, an amazing trail dog, and two adults who were outpaced by their children at ages 10 and 8. You both started out enthusiastic about this challenge. Challenges are fun to talk about. For the first few hikes, you were so excited. But then, it got hot. As we began to train for the PNW the hikes got increasingly longer. The paths were more strenuous and sometimes crowded. We all four, well, probably not dad, had times where we wanted to quit or give up in the middle of the forest. Our feet hurt, we were thirsty, we couldn't do one more hill, we had fallen and scraped our knees, or a beloved stick had been dropped by accident resulting in sheer sadness. There were tears, stern talking to, and fit throwing. The thing about being on a long hike is that there really is no exit strategy except to go back or finish. There is no one bailing you out. Unless you can somehow call a helicopter to rescue you (believe me on Black Elk Peak I thought about this) you have to get yourself out.
Perseverance is absolutely necessary. I had no idea that that was what you would gain from this experience, but you absolutely did. Dad and I did not teach you perseverance. You developed it on your own. I hope that it is something you are able to draw from in your future as a way to help you get through the not so easy times in life.
Persistence. Some of our hikes were admittedly easy. Under a mile. On a boardwalk. Reading informational signage. Others were incredibly grueling. 9.68 miles was our longest hike. Some hikes had over 2,000 feet elevation gain. They pushed our bodies and our minds. But we set a pace, completed the hike, and refused to give up. The thing about accomplishing something is that it teaches you that you can accomplish more. We did 3 miles? Guess what? That means we can do 4. If we can do 4 surely we can do 6. Success begets success. If you take something one step at a time you can accomplish anything. The persistence you both developed from this experience will be invaluable for the rest of your life.
Experience. Travel has always been a big goal for your dad and I. We loved traveling before you and traveling with you now is one of our greatest joys. You can see a lot by driving through a place. You can even have lots of experiences stopping by the side of the road and hitting the high points. In fact, you can see more traveling that way. But, when you head out on a hike THAT'S where the experience becomes an interaction. National Parks are crowded. Sadly overly-crowded. You know what's not crowded? Trails. About 1 mile in you lose 90% of the people. It is then that you really get to know a place. Who or what lives there? What does that look like? You can contemplate how old the trees are. How many other hikers they've seen. It's a magical moment to be more than a visitor, but really a part of the forest.
Togetherness. We all live, eat, sleep, and work together. Prior to this, we've never really had it be part of a challenge to be together. I couldn't believe how much it helped us to rely on one another. Laugh and joke with one another while also leading and supporting one another. It started with Dad and I leading and caboosing the trails. After a particularly horrible hike, Baby Waider decided it was her time to be the leader and the pace-setter. It was amazing to watch you take on this role and really get us to a place where we were doing 3-4 miles per hour which made is easier for us to complete longer hikes. The only rule we had for our hikes is that the four of us had to be there for the whole thing. It is so easy for us to get caught up in working or working on stuff around the house that one of us will stay back while the other goes with the kids. This made that more difficult because it didn't "count" as a hike then. It took each one of us to make it happen. That accountability was good for me and a reminder to stop every now and then and take time to reset with my family.
Out of our comfort zone. It is such a cliche saying. What is a comfort zone anyway? I felt like nature was my comfort zone. What I did not expect was how much this challenge still pushed us out of our comfort zone. Take that experience and chance when you're there. The hike is rated strenuous and the reviews say it's impossible? Determine that rating for yourself. You might surprise yourself. Afraid your body won't make the trek? You'll pass out before you die. So many times we were out of our comfort zone. Traveling to unknown places and literally in the middle of nowhere.
Ferris Bueller summed it up best. Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it. These hikes forced us to slow down and really absorb our surroundings. There's nothing quite like pushing your body to the limit, seeing an amazing summit, and then sitting back and reflecting upon that accomplishment. Doing that 50 times this past year changed me. I can't wait for the next challenge to come...222 miles hiked in 2022. Phew. That's gonna be a tough one, but if there's one thing I learned this year we're up for the challenge.
Fifty Hikes
1. Flume Trail Loop
2. Boulder Hill
3. Osprey Trail
4. Spoke Creek Cabin Loop
5. Bear Butte
6. Alta Vista Drive
Badlands:
7. Castle Trail
8. Saddle Pass
9. Door Hike
10. Fossil Bed Trail
11. Yellow Mounds
12. Notch Trail
13. Window Hike
Pierre
14. Okobojo Point
15. Farm Island
16. Scruton Mountain
17. Tamarack Loop
18. Black Elk Peak
Olympic National Park
19. Sul Duc Falls
20. Lover's Lane (hike to hot springs)
21. Tide Pools at Salt Creek
22. Hurricane Hill
23. Marymere Falls
24. Storm King
25. Salmon Cascade
26. Rialto Beach to Hole in the Wall
27. Ancient Groves
28. Olympic Discovery Trail
29. Devil's Punchbowl
30. Tide Pools at Rialto
31. Second Beach
32. Hoh River Trail
33. Spruce Nature Trail
34. Hall of Mosses Trail
35. Cape Alava
36. Skyline Trail
37. Trail of Shadows
38. Narada Falls
39. Grove of the Patriarchs
40. Nature Trail of Ohanapecosh
41. Sturgis Reservoir
42. Lost trails Hike at Center Lake
43. Grace Coolidge Fishing Trail
44. Crow Peak
45. Stratobowl
46. Christmas Tree Hike
47. Robbinsdale Dog Park
48. Dinosaur Park/Skyline Trail
49. School of Mines Hill
50. M Hill
Hikes we forgot to count...
51. Big Cedar
52. Tree of Life
*I got a little cocky and combined hikes in Washington. This year I am going to be much, much better at recording the hikes and making sure I have accurate mileage.
Proud is not a strong enough word for how I feel about us completing this challenge. I am not only proud but also profoundly grateful for the lessons learned through this journey and the time we all spent together.
Love,
Mom
Mom
Photo Documentation
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