News that the company that designs crash-test dummies has bulked up its replicas to better reflect a … growing America — creating a dummy that weighs 273 pounds compared to the previous 167-pounder — immediately made me think, of course, of hiking. If these crash-test dummies had been out hiking instead of parked behind the wheel, they no doubt could retain their svelte, under-35 BMI physiques of just 20 years ago.
The plight of the corpulent crash-test dummies was a reminder that we fail to appreciate that, in addition to clearing our minds, when we hit the trail it’s doing our bodies a world of good. First, as underscored by the dummies, hiking can play a key role in controlling weight. Consider: A 180-pound person burns about 500 calories an hour on a vigorous hike (throw on a 30-pound pack and that figure climbs over 650 calories per hour). Granted, we need to replace some of those calories to keep fueled, but still, that’s some serious calorie burning.
Other examples of how hiking can improve your health:

• Hiking on a regular basis can lower your blood pressure by 4 to 10 points. (Case in point — and pardon me if I’ve told this story: On a recent Corporate hike, a hiker who has been with us for a year now told me she’d just had her annual health assessment for work. A year ago, her blood pressure was 130 / 80; today, a year later, it’s down 10 points to 120 / 72.)
• Hiking reduces your chances of heart disease.
• A frequent walk in the woods can help reduce your chances of getting diabetes. If you already have the disease, hiking, combined with a proper diet, can reduce or even eliminate the need for insulin therapy.
• As a weight-bearing, impact exercise, hiking can help stave off osteoporosis.
• A walk in the woods can clear your head — and that’s not us talking, that’s your endorphins, according to recent studies. It’s also effective at reducing stress and relieving anxiety.
• Hiking improves muscle fitness.

• Hiking can lower your risk of high cholesterol and triglycerides.
• Hiking can lower your risk of colon and breast cancer.
• After a good hike you’ll sleep better.

For most of us, lowering our blood pressure or building stronger bones isn’t our main motivation for hiking: it’s those first spring beauties and trout lilies along the Eno River, those crystal clear vistas from the AT through the Shenandoah, those mountain coves rich with ancient hardwoods in the Southern Appalachians. But it’s nice to know that what may seem an indulgence (particularly when we’ve left pressing chores back home) is doing our bodies a world of good.
Better a hiker than a crash-test dummy.

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Why do I push hiking?
For one, it’s accessible. North Carolina is blessed with great hiking trails. No matter where you live, from the coast to the mountains, there are great trails a short drive away. (We even have a trail, the Mountains-to-Sea Trail, linking the coast and the mountains.)
Hiking is social. Of all the ways you can get your heart rate up, hiking is perhaps the most amenable to doing so with friends. The movement, the fresh air, the surroundings regardless of where they are, all contribute to a convivial atmosphere.
It’s soothing. For a lot  of us, being in the woods is a sedative. That’s not just me talking, there’s science to back that up (see below).
It doesn’t feel like a workout. Sure, there may be times at the end of a long day where you realize your body is working, but typically that realization doesn’t occur until later on — when you try to get out of the car, for instance.
All of which is why last September GetGoingNC, with support from Great Outdoor Provision Co., launched the GetHiking! program. GetHiking! focuses on two audiences: Folks who have long been interested in hiking but, for whatever reason, have yet to take their first step into the woods. And more experienced hikers who would hike more if they knew more places to hike.
For the former, our hikes are lead from the rear, meaning you’ll never hike alone. A guide will always be at the back of the pack. For the latter, we try and hit new trails every week, ensuring that you expand your universe of hiking options.
The program launched in the Triangle in September. To date, we now have more than 500 members. Our weekly hikes can be intimate, with as few as 15 hikers, or they can be events, with upwards of 70 participants.
Based on our response in the Triangle, we are expanding GetHiking! into Winston-Salem and Charlotte, with hikes scheduled to begin in both regions later this month. You can learn more about the Triad program here, GetHiking! Charlotte here.  And you can find out about our hikes and other events, and join up, by visiting the following:

• GetHiking! Charlotte, go here. We have a kickoff event scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 16 at  6:30 at the Great Outdoor Provision Store in the Park Road Shopping Center.
• GetHiking! Triad, go here. We have a kickoff event scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 23 at 6:30 p.m. at the Great Outdoor Provision Store in the Friendly Shipping Center in Greensboro.
• GetHiking! Triangle, go here.

There’s another big reason I started the program, one especially pertinent to folks interested in living healthier in the new year:
It’s good for you. Consider:

• Hiking reduces your chances of heart disease.
• Hiking on a regular basis can lower blood pressure by 4 to 10 points.
• A frequent walk in the woods can help reduce your chances of getting diabetes. If you already have the disease, hiking, combined with proper diet, can reduce or even eliminate the need for insulin therapy.
• As a weight-bearing exercise, hiking can help stave off osteoporosis.
• A regular exercise program centered around hiking, coupled with a sound diet, can help you achieve and maintain a healthy weight. Depending upon your pace and other factors, you can burn up to 500 calories per hour hiking.
• A walk in the woods can clear your head — and that’s not us talking, that’s your endorphins, according to recent studies. Hiking is also effective at reducing stress and relieving anxiety.
• Hiking improves muscle fitness.
• Hiking lowers your cholesterol and triglyceride levels.
• Hiking can lower the risk of colon and breast cancer.

Hiking is a well-rounded activity. If you’ve been reluctant to hit the trail because you’re fretful of going alone, or you don’t know where to go, then you no longer have an excuse. You have GetHiking!
So get going, join your local club and we’ll see you on the trail.

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“Uh!” Kathy groaned about three quarters of the way up the grinding march up to Moore’s Knob at Hanging Rock State Park. “I wish I’d started doing this when I was younger.”
“Better late than never,” her sister Judy offered.
“Yeah,” I added, “and hiking is something you can do for another 40 years.”
Kathy looked at me like I was nuts. “I’ll be 60 this fall!”
OK, maybe another 20 years. The point, as sis so eloquently put it, it’s never too late to start an activity, especially when that activity is health-friendly hiking.
According to a 2005 report (the most recent year for which I could find demographic information for free), the average age of a hiker was 38 and nearly a third of the nation’s 76.7 million hikers were 45 or older. That’s about 25 million hikers — 25 million smart hikers, considering a 2009 study found that the decline in our level of fitness begins to accelerate after age 45. Because of the constant impact of hiking, it’s especially helpful for women trying to stave off osteoporosis. The additional health benefits of hiking are numerous: hiking regularly can lower your blood pressure by four to 10 points, reduce your chances for cardio vascular disease, reduce your odds of getting diabetes, help you keep weight off, lower your cholesterol and triglyceride levels and, perhaps most importantly, clear your head and help you maintain your sanity.
And it doesn’t discriminate on the basis of age.
Take Emma “Grandma” Gatewood. In 1955, at the age of 67, she hiked the entire 2,180-mile Appalachian Trail. That was the first time she hiked the AT; she did it again in 1960 at age 72, and again, when she was 75, in 1963. Lee Barry became the oldest person to thru-hike the AT when he completed the trail in 2004 at age 81. The oldest AT section hiker was 86 when he finished wrapped up the trail.
Closer to home, Triangle hikers have been trying to keep pace with Rod Broadbelt since  he started his monthly hikes, mostly at Umstead State Park, in the 1990s. Rod goes anywhere from 8 miles (in the dead of summer) to 22 miles (in the briskness of February) on his hikes, which often leave much younger hikers gasping for breath. On a hike last year he said his goal was to continue leading the hikes after he turns 80. He was 78 at the time.
And lest you be an older hiker and think you don’t have the knees for hiking, we have two words of advice: hiking poles. For just as full-suspension bikes have extended the riding lives of many an older mountain biker, and the over-sized tennis racket meant more control and less darting about the court for aging tennis players, so have hiking poles made it possible for the weak-kneed to keep on hiking. Plus, with poles, not only do you still get a good cardio workout, but your upper body gets to share the toning benefits of a hike.
We can’t blame Kathy for wishing she’d started hiking sooner; think of all the great places she’s missed seeing. But then, think of all the great places she’ll visit in the next 20 years.
Or 40.

* * *

Better later …

Whether you’re young or older, if you’re interested in getting into hiking and seek a supportive environment, check out our GetHiking! Triangle hiking program.

Hike with Rod

Rod Broadbelt’s next monthly hike is Saturday, Oct. 19 at 8 a.m. at Umstead State Park in Raleigh. The group will meet at the park’s Reedy Creek entrance and hike 13 to 14 miles (there’s a shorter option of 8 to 9 miles) over to Lake Crabtree and back. Learn more about that hike here.

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