Who likes to hike?

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!

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.

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!

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!!!

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.

I've climbed 12 mountains above 14,000ft since May. I even did one of them twice. I am addicted. Two more this weekend!

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!

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.

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!!

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!

Love the Nature Church comment! I call my Sunday morning longs runs in the woods my "Church." I love hiking and camping. Just last week we went to Fundy National Park in New Brunswick, Canada, and did some nice hikes. My husband and I have hiked in Glacier, Lake Placid, Grand Tetons, Yosemite, Lake Tahoe, Zion, anywhere we go. My vacations are always planned around hiking and/or running (or both!). My next one is camping & I plan to do a triathlon every day of hiking, running, and kayaking. Yay for outdoors & summer!

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!

Dog and water story made me laugh. I have two litter mates, they come back from the same walk, one looking like she's been in the bath and the other is spotless- even at the beach. She'll do a huge detour rather than go through a puddle or the mud!