Holiday Hiker.

Holiday Hiker is both a series of hikes we’re doing in December and an overriding philosophy here at GetHiking!

Last week we told you about our Holiday Hiker series, so we won’t dwell. (But if you missed it, we’ve launched a series of short — 4 miles, give or take — hikes geared to keep you moving through the oft-stressful holiday season. Learn more about that series here.)

After we posted that blog, it occurred to us that the Holiday Hiker concept — mixing sanity-saving excursions with fun — is really what we do year-round: we give you a hiking holiday from the everyday.

This past year, for instance, GetHiking! Triangle Hike Leader Anne Triebert led a series of five Classic Escape weekend trips, to Doughton Park, Linville Gorge, Mount Mitchell, New River and Stone Mountain. There was great hiking — about 5 or 6 miles a day over classic North Carolina terrain. And then there was what made the weekends truly memorable: the camaraderie around the campfire.

Think about it: When was the last time you sat back free of distractions and talked (and not about work)? Hikers returned to the campground around 4 in the afternoon, pulled up a camp chair, grabbed a beverage and kibitzed. The fire would get started around 6, dinner would follow — often a pot luck affair beginning with Bob’s five-bean salad and ending with Rose’s dutch oven dump cake. The affair would continue into the night — how late, no one is quite sure because who minds a watch at times like these?

Ask the participants and I’m sure they would agree: these hikes were indeed holidays from the routine, the stress, the demands of the everyday.

To be sure, not all of our outings are this laid back. Yet they are holidays just the same.

Just ask the sturdy souls on our Linville Gorge GetBackpacking! trip in August. Linville Gorge is home to some of the most rugged terrain along the East Coast. The gorge is as deep as 1,300 feet in spots; the Linville River running through it drops 2,000 vertical feet in its 13-mile run through the gorge. There is no easy in Linville, only less difficult. The hiking — most of the trip was in designated wilderness — posed ongoing challenges, both physical (“How am I getting over that?”) and mental (What happened to the trail?) Challenges though they were, they differed from the vexing challenges of daily survival: of balancing the checkbook or meeting a deadline. A holiday from the mundane.

Our lead-from-behind philosophy accommodates the aerobic hiker and nature lover alike. If your aim is to get your heart rate up, we’ll describe the route (or, on longer and more involved hikes, provide a map) and send you off down the trail. Get confused? Stay put and we’ll catch up with the back of the pack, which is where our hike leaders hang out.

It’s an approach that’s worked well during GetHiking!’s four and a half years. And an approach that will continue to work for us — and you — in 2018. As we plot the year ahead, Anne plans to keep the Classic Escape mojo moving forward with trips to the Black Mountains, to Mount Rogers in Virginia, to Grandfather Mountain and again to Linville. Hike leader Scott Hicks is looking to explore the Virginia highlands, with a weekend trip to Peaks of Otter in Virginia (with side trips to a nearby alpaca farm and the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford), and with a series of backpack trips exploring the Appalachian Trail in Virginia. And that’s just a sampling of what 2018 holds in store.

We’ll be unveiling many of our 2018 programs throughout December. While we have some ideas of what we’d like to do, we’re also interested in where you’d like to hike, what you’d like to see and do. Share your thoughts, by emailing joe@getgoingnc.com.

In the meantime, we hope to see you on a Holiday Hike.

Happy Trails,

Joe

The post When you’re hiking, every day’s a holiday appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

Last week, we offered advice on eating better over the holidays from Shelly Wegman, a registered dietician with Rex Nutrition Center in Raleigh. Today, we offer the best way we know to combat stress — moving. Specifically, moving down the trail.

This Friday, as we all awake from a Thanksgiving tryptophan torpor, we’ll be launching our Holiday Hiker series. We’ll gather at 11 a,m. on the Loblolly Trail at Umstead State Park for a 4.2-mile hike. Then, for most Saturday mornings and Sunday afternoons through Dec. 24, we’ll hike a similar distance on trails throughout the Triangle. The hikes are just far enough to stretch your legs, elevate your heart rate and clear your head, but short enough to fit into the busy business of the holiday season. (The last thing we want to do is stress you by getting you behind schedule.)

If you’ve already done some hiking, you know the value of an hour or two on the trail. Some of you enjoy hiking at a hearty clip, focusing on getting the heart rate up. Others are out there to slow things down, to swap the madness of the mall and the demands of year-end deadlines with the quiet of a forest that’s settling in for the winter. (It’s remarkable the calming effect a forest stripped of foliage can have.) The eight hikes we’ve selected for this series meet the needs of both hikers.

On Friday, if the weather’s nice — and it’s supposed to be, with a temperature around 60 under clear skies — the parking lot at Umstead might be a little crazy. But you’ll leave that behind  not far down the Loblolly Trail, as we slip into a forest that descends for about a mile to feisty Reedy Creek, then crosses mild ridgelines for another mile. Much of this trail is new within the past few years, and it’s a pleasure for both speed hiker and the slower-moving naturalist. We lead from the back, so nobody will be left behind, whatever pace you choose.

Later in the series, we’ll hike along the rocky Eno River, sample the Mountains-to-Sea Trail, and explore a nature preserve and a research forest, too. And, in the spirit of the season, we’ll have treats at all the hikes. All of these hikes are family-friendly, with shorter options for shorter legs.

Too often, we throw in the towel on healthy living when the holidays roll around. I’ll make it up with my New Year’s resolution, we tell ourselves. We couldn’t have gotten this more backward. Now is the time to start paying attention. Be cognizant of what you eat, get in some hikes, and you’ll already have healthy ways established by the time January 1st rolls around.

Join us on the trail this holiday season. To learn more and sign up, tap here.

Happy Trails!

Joe

The post Ho-ho-holiday hiker series launches on Friday! appeared first on GetGoing NC!.