Who likes to hike?

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NikkiSixGuns
NikkiSixGuns Posts: 630 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I do! I do!

I'm interested in hearing your hiking stories. Anything goes. Someplace cool you hiked, something you saw along the way, what your must-have piece of hiking gear is, tips for others, whatever you want to share.

My hubby and I hiked Fish Creek Trail to Grinnell Mountain here in Southern California with our beagle this weekend (thus my profile pic). Neato trail. Saw a mule deer just about 15 minutes from the trailhead and then a pretty large (@ 3 1/2') black rattlesnake on our way back. Won't be taking the beagle with us on trails that go that deep in the future. Don't need to risk her getting bit by something nasty. We heard from a ranger that a mother bear was in the area with her two cubs also, so my nerves were pretty taught the whole trip!

All in all a good day and a GREAT night's sleep!
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Replies

  • bpotts44
    bpotts44 Posts: 1,066 Member
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    We take the kids on a hike about every weekend.
  • SuperCindy185
    SuperCindy185 Posts: 12 Member
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    I've been going on Sunday mornings for what I call Nature church. I take my 3 poodles - ranging in size from 6# to 20# and do a 2.7 mile hike on a leashless dog trail. We all get a lil muddy usually since there is a lot of stone crosses over the creek but it is so fun, peaceful and relaxing - and yet still an excellent work out!
  • NikkiSixGuns
    NikkiSixGuns Posts: 630 Member
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    That's awesome! I love how dogs have a never-ending enthusiasm for anything outdoors.

    Ours absolutely abhors water, though. She even walks on three legs when the lawn is wet. She will cross the streams and such, but not without thoroughly investigating for alternate routes first. However - if there's something interesting on the other side, like a squirrel or duck, she seems to forget all about the water.

    I second the great exercise part. My husband and I ride mountain bikes in the hills/mountains a lot, walk all over the place, and do a lot of strength training, but it's amazing what gets sore after a 13-mile hike!
  • bizorra
    bizorra Posts: 151 Member
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    LOL to Nature Church :)

    I love hiking with my dogs! It's too funny to watch them explore. My older dog loves to track down wildlife and freaks out when she actually finds something (OMG, there's the deer! Cannot move, but must..go..play..with..it) Meanwhile if the puppy notices the wildlife she prefers the "HEY WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?" method of barking and scaring off whatever she sees. We're trying to get them to like the canoe, so far no dice.

    OK that's enough talk about my dogs.. hehe. We need to find more hikes to do in our area. Mostly we do them when we're on road trips.
  • aspen_matthews
    aspen_matthews Posts: 94
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    I did a great hike with some friends in Muir Woods a few weeks back. Did about 10 miles, took 6 hours. Had a great day and the weather was perfect :-) Plan to go hiking again in a couple weeks, probably at Lake Berryessa.
  • runningmommycrosland
    runningmommycrosland Posts: 23
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    My husband and I recently went backpacking in the Santa Fe National Forest and ended up hiking 22 miles in one day! Half uphill (over 2,000 ft of elevation gain), and the other half through sleet/snow/freezing rain :-). It was a crazy adventure, and I can't wait to go backpacking again! LOVE it!
  • UpEarly
    UpEarly Posts: 2,555 Member
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    ME! (you can probably tell from my collection of profile photos - haha)

    I go hiking several times a week. It's my primary form of exercise. My husband and I actually do a hiking blog that covers trails in Virginia.

    My top gear recommendations - trail runners (instead of hiking boots), trekking poles and a backpack with a hydration sleeve. :-)
  • bms34b
    bms34b Posts: 401 Member
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    Sigh, I LOVE hiking! Unfortunately it's 100+ degrees here every day (Kansas City area) and the S/O and I aren't brave enough to hit the trails. I can't wait for fall!!!
  • JNick77
    JNick77 Posts: 3,783 Member
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    Just this weekend we went to Zion National Park and hiked the Emerald Lower Pools and Emerald Upper Pools. The lower pools was a very easy trail to get started with. We saw two deer eating about 15 to 20 feet off the trail, a whole bunch of little lizards and a couple well-fed squirrels. The end of the trail had a small waterfall that you got to walk under. The Upper Pools was quite a challenge. I don't recall how many miles it was but it was pretty much a climb the entire way up over big rocks and such. The most difficult part was just watching my footing on the sandstone but it was a good little challenge. Aside from the moron rock jumping we didn't see any wildlife and I was just waiting for that moron to face-plant into the side of a boulder. When I woke-up on Sunday the only thing that was sore was my right ankle for some reason, so I felt pretty good about my fitness level. :)
  • Sasssy69
    Sasssy69 Posts: 547 Member
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    With the weather being warmer, I've started going about 3 days a week. Sometimes I hit the gym first.

    Last Thursday, my work out partner, one of my good friends, and I all hiked up to Mt. Kit Carson (Mt. Spokane). It took us a three hours round trip. The view was magnificent. (See pic- that's my work out partner on the left, and me on the right). A year ago you couldn't get me to even think about climbing 2 hours up hill for a great view. Now, I can't imagine NOT going.

    MeandErin.jpg
  • stonerdude
    stonerdude Posts: 103
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    Observation point in Zion and The Wave near Lake Powell
  • JoniBologna
    JoniBologna Posts: 653 Member
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    I've climbed 12 mountains above 14,000ft since May. I even did one of them twice. I am addicted. Two more this weekend!
  • cathiaflock
    cathiaflock Posts: 112 Member
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    I love hiking. It's so hot here in AZ but I managed to find out that if you start early enough it isn't too bad. Just bring tons of h20. I need to get a hydration pack soon.
  • KaidaKantri
    KaidaKantri Posts: 401
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    I love hiking. I go to Lost Creek Lake a lot and hike there. One of the must have's is a gun. Mainly because the trails I go on are known to have cougars and bears there. I've also seen a few crazy people there (watched some people get in a fight a few weeks ago) So it's another reason why a gun is a must have when I go hiking. There is also Table rock, lower and upper that's pretty awesome to hike. I hiked up, across, and down the other side of it once, and then back around on the road. It was a 5 1/2 hour hike. There is also Pilot rock in Ashland Oregon, Roxy Ann, and another trail from the park in Ashland. There's lots of places to go hiking where I live!
  • Morgaine_on_the_move
    Morgaine_on_the_move Posts: 228 Member
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    I went hiking in Peru in June for two weeks with my husband. We didn't do any overnight hikes like the Inca Trail, but we did hike all over the Sacred Valley.

    My favorite hike was at Machu Picchu. We hiked up that famous mountain that you see in all the photos, Wayna Picchu. It was a solid hour of climbing steps using my feet and hands, and it involved rope for balancing on the way back down. The view at the top was so worth it, though!
  • rinnismom
    rinnismom Posts: 190
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    WOOT!

    my fiance and i are avid hikers. we tend to get 2-3 in a week. we're here in the glorious hot springs national park in arkansas and we've driven hours to hit trails. our hikes average about 5 miles. we just got through a great hike, last week, beating our previous time. 8 miles in 3h 9m. sunset trail is about 80% uphill but we whooped it's butt. in a year, we get hundreds of miles logged on the trails. it's just the best form of fun and exercise that we've ever found.

    we have a fantastic park (cedarglades park) that has 4 bike/hike trails that range in difficulty and length. we just did a 4.2 mile trail ride yesterday. got it in at 48 minutes. my daughter wasn't really handling the trail too well so it slowed us down a slight bit but she pushed through and we all had a fantastic time. i was just proud of myself because the trail we took was the one that i wiped out hardcore on the last time we went. sharp turn + steep decline + loose ground = me flying over the handle bars and landing on my neck and aiding to the small roll that followed (steep). luckily the jutting rocks and large roots broke my fall. ahh, it was so exhilirating!!!

    i wish i could find more people in my area that loved it as much as us. occasionally it would be nice to tag along with others.
  • GhostPack
    GhostPack Posts: 197 Member
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    I did a great hike with some friends in Muir Woods a few weeks back. Did about 10 miles, took 6 hours. Had a great day and the weather was perfect :-) Plan to go hiking again in a couple weeks, probably at Lake Berryessa.
    I think Muir Woods is almost always perfect for hiking. Love it!
    Are there good spots to hike at Berryessa? Never hiked there. PM me? so not to hi-jack
    Recently went on a nice hike in Big Sur. Very steep, not many people.
  • good2bthaking
    good2bthaking Posts: 325 Member
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    Ilove to hike but haven't done so in a few years.When I was a Marine in Japan, I hiked Mt. Fuji four times in four weekends. It was exhilarating and almost had a spiritual effect. The view was magnificent. Halfway up, I actually came upon a Monk who was meditating. He stopped and talked to me and another Marine for a few minutes. Bucket list- climb again someday, but this time sleep on mountain and see the Rising Sun. My wife thinks I am crazy, but anyone who has hiked can know how I feel. Thanks for reading!!
  • catwoman131
    catwoman131 Posts: 55
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    OOOOH! I love to hike! I joined a hiking group a few years ago through meetup.com and so glad I did because I learned a lot about what I'm really capable of. Plus, met my awesome boyfriend on one outing! I live in SoCal too... my favorite hikes are to Mt. Wilson and Mt. Baldy. Both a real butt-kickers but you will feel accomplished and proud of yourself (and burn a crap ton of calories)!
  • briebear77
    briebear77 Posts: 253 Member
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    I used to HATE hiking. This year, I found a group on a site called meetup.com that goes multiple times a week. This is now my cardio. I LOVE it. I have been going at least twice a week most weeks since I found the group. I hiked up to Malan's Peak in Utah on Tuesday and it was spectacular (it's my profile pic!). I saw a rattlesnake, a lizard, and tons of dragonflys at the top. We had an amazing view. I also hiked up to a waterfall in a place called Adam's Canyon on Wednesday. Long hike and amazing as well. I can't wait to go tomorrow!

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