Introduction to Hiking 

This program is for folks interested in hiking who haven’t found the incentive to do so (until now!). It’s also intended for people who know they need to be more active, but want a way that doesn’t feel like exercise. This program includes:

1. On-site presentation. Includes:

• Slideshow featuring places to hike in the Triangle and North Carolina
• Handout: Health benefits of hiking 
• Handout: Tips for getting started
• Resources. List of resources including places to hike, information on gear, etc.

2. Weekly GetHiking! hike. Eight-, 10- or 12-week programs with hikes every week. We have a Sunday series, with hikes at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. in fall, winter and spring, and at 9 a.m. Sunday in summer. Each week we send out an enewsletter detailing the hike for the coming Sunday, as well as hiking tips and resources.

Cost: $105-$125 per employee, depending upon the length of the program. Couple and family discounts available.

For Experienced Hikers

Maybe your team has experienced hikers and is primarily interested in hiking longer distances, staying active over the winter, and hiking as a team. Our Experienced Hiker program does just that. The program includes: 

1. On-site presentation. Includes:

• Slideshow featuring places to hike in the Triangle and North Carolina
• Handout: Health benefits of hiking 
• Handout: Tips for getting started
• Resources. List of resources including places to hike, information on gear, etc.

2. Weekly GetHiking! hike. Same as the beginner series, but with longer hikes, generally from 4 to 9 miles in length. Each week we send out an enewsletter detailing the hike for the coming Sunday, as well as hiking tips and resources.

Cost: $105-$125 per employee, depending upon the length of the series. Couples and family discounts available.

Keep on Hiking

Our goal is for hiking to become a healthy lifestyle for your employees, not a fitness fad. To that end, we offer sessions throughout the year.

Participants from your company also receive a 20 percent discount on our GetHiking! GetBackpacking! GetCamping! and GetOriented! programs during the time they’re enrolled in the Corporate Hiking Program. See GetHiking! Programs for these other opportunities..

Corporate team building

Team-building exercises needn’t be painful, death-defying or worse — cause for eye-rolling. They do, however, need to offer a challenge. In this six-week program we train your team to tackle what they may believe at the start to be impossible: hike 10 miles on a challenging mountain trail. We do this by taking your team on five weekly training hikes that grow longer and more challenging each week. As part of the team-building element, members will be assigned different roles each week. Those roles include: 

• Hike leader. Responsible for keeping the group together and on the trail. The hike leader will need to be familiar with the basics of using a map and compass to follow a trail. He/she will need to know what a double blaze means, how to stay on a trail when it becomes indistinct, how to read a map and use a compass, and what to do in the event the trail is blocked. He/she will also be responsible for making sure the group stays together, or if different factions of the group want to hike at a different pace, making sure that those factions know they need to stay together.
• Naturalist. This person will be responsible for researching the natural history of the trail and pointing out and identifying the flora and fauna along the way. Not everything, of course, but enough to make the hike more meaningful for fellow hikers.
• Historian. Many modern hiking trails evolved from the highways of yesterday. The historian will be responsible for knowing the human history of the area the trail.
• Medic. This person carries the first-aid kit, is familiar with what’s in it, and can help hikers deal with blisters, cramps, muscle aches and other minor ailments.
• Caterer. Well, not a caterer, really. Rather, the person responsible for keeping the group fueled. You burn a lot of calories on the trail and refueling along the way is critical to finishing a long hike. The caterer will be responsible for researching various ways to provide nutrition (from sophisticated power gels to Little Debbie Cream-Filled Oatmeal Cookies) and introducing the group to the various options.
• Sweep. The caboose of the hiking team stays in the rear, offering moral support to flagging hikers.

By assuming an important role each week, this approach places responsibility on individual hikers to make the hike as enjoyable as possible for his/her fellow hikers/team members. Role-playing also builds a well-rounded hiker capable of appreciating the trail in various ways — and increases the odds of creating a long-time hiker. Tip sheets will be available for each role to help hikers learn and understand their responsibilities. 

Cost: $350 per employee for six employees (minimum), $300 per employee for seven to 12 employees. Does not include the cost of graduation weekend.

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GetHiking! Corporate is an employer-sponsored program designed to get employees from behind their desks and into the outdoors.

“You did an amazing job with our group, with so much planning that went into it.  It was wonderfully executed. “

— Chrissy  Lantry, Novo Nordisk,

on weekend teambuilding retreat

What’s the difference between walking a few times around the building at lunchtime and hiking for a couple hours on the weekend? Rather than rushing to get in those laps before you return to your desk, you’ll be challenging mind and body as you move on natural surface with more ups and downs, twists and turns. Rather than fretting about the email you need to send, you’ll be navigating trees and rocks, allowing your brain to shift focus and let the stress flow out of you. Hiking regularly you’ll be more relaxed, have more stamina, and be more ready than ever to tackle whatever challenges come your way.

We offer a variety of ways for you to incorporate hiking into your corporate culture, including:

Weekly hike. Hiking has emerged as one of the safest ways for us to gather and, at the same time, enjoy the myriad benefits of physical activity and the outdoors. We can create a hiking program based on the physical ability of your team, and one on a different trails near your workplace. The hikes can be strictly social, they can double as business meetings, they can even work as team building exercises. 

Hike and coffee. Maybe you like the idea of a hike and a meeting, just not at the same time. We can take you on a hike — all the better for getting your endorphins active — then set you up with coffee, bagels and yogurt for a meeting in an outdoor location.

Weekend retreat. Yes, it can be done. Spring and fall are especially good times to hold weekend outdoor retreats. Picnic shelters make great meeting places, screened-in cabins, and airy tents and yurts maker for restful nights. And so much to do outdoors in-between!

Weekend retreat: backcountry. We equip your team with all the backpacking gear they’ll need to hike a couple miles into the woods, set up camp, and enjoy the quiet of the outdoors as day gives way to dusk, evening to night. The camaraderie developed on a backpack trip can’t be found in any other activity.

Team-building activities. Before you recoil at the thought of a ropes course, of perching 40 feet in the air on an inch-wide rope, that’s not what we have in mind. We have options that will challenge, but won’t terrorize. For example, a successful hike has many roles: hike leader, naturalist, historian, medic, caterer, sweep. The success of your hike depends on the success of these six key individuals.

We also have standing programs that can accommodate your crew:

• GetHiking! 2022 Spring Tuesday Night Hike Series; for information, go here.
• GetHiking! 2022 Spring Sunday Hike Series: for the morning session, go here, for the afternoon session, here.

Our clients include SAS, IQVIA (formerly Quintiles), MetLife, BlueCross of North Carolina, and Novo Nordisk.

If you’d like us to bring our programs to your company, contact us at   joe@getgoingnc.com or 919.791.6155.

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