Maybe even too close. 

We know you all love each other. We know you would move heaven and earth to ensure each other’s health and happiness.

We also know that being in in close quarters 24/7 for more than a year adds up to a lot of togetherness. And you never noticed until now how your loved one could Breathe. So. Loudly.

You may even find yourself saying: “Take a hike. Sweetie.”

We can help with that. 

We can provide healing distance for you and your loved one — both of you can come out of it stronger mentally, physically, and emotionally. 

Let’s say you want to take the edge off the stress with a regular walk in the woods. Great! Sign up for a hike series that gets you out on the weekends or in the evenings after work.

On the weekends, our Sunday hike series is especially popular with one-hiker households. We have a hike at 10 a.m. for up-and-at-em sorts. We also have a hike that goes out at 1 p.m. Both hikes cover about 5 miles (sometimes a mile or so more), at your pace (we lead from the rear, so you’re never at the very end). Each hike in the series is on a different trail.

During the week, our Spring Tuesday Evening Hikes are especially popular with one-hiker households, cover less ground (about 3 miles), and are a great way to welcome the season. Again, each hike is on a different trail.

Let’s say your sweetie has been making noises about wanting to go on a loooooong hike, but a year inside hasn’t helped with physical preparation. Our Adventure Coaching program may be just the thing. We have an initial chat to see where you are and where you want to be, then we come up with a plan designed around your schedule. It might include you joining one of our hiking groups to limber up. Then it might include prescribed hikes that you do on your own with a GetHiking!-provided PDF guide. Or it might be a combination of both.

If you or your loved one have been thinking about backpacking, We also have a GetBackpacking class that might just scratch that itch — and give you some alone time. Our three-part class — a gear session, a 5-hour in-field training session, and a weekend graduation trip — has produced more than 240 confident, competent, backpackers since 2014. For getting away from it all, nothing beats backpacking.

Let’s say your beloved wants to go camping one weekend, but you aren’t smitten with that much outdoorsness. Check out our concierge camping service. We provide all the gear, set up your tent, and even light the fire for you to toast your marshmallows. You can send your spouse and a few friends, while you enjoy a weekend at home. Alone.

Sign up your spouse and call it a present. You don’t have to say who the present is really for.

Learn more, sign up

GetHiking! Sunday Hike Series. Hikes every Sunday, ranging from 4-7 miles on different trails each week. Runs through May 16. For the morning hike (10 a.m.), learn more and sign up here for singles, here for couples and families; for the afternoon hike (1 p.m.), learn more and sign up here for singles, here for couples and families.

GetHiking! Spring Evening Ephemeral Hike Series. Hikes Tuesday evenings at 6:30, each about 3 miles long at different locations. Runs through May 18. Learn more and sign up here for singles, here for families and couples.

Adventure Coaching. You, or a “friend,” need some direction with your fledgling outdoor career? Our Adventure Coaching program starts with a discussion to determine your goals, then we develop a plan to help you reach them. Email joe@getgoingnc.com to begin the discussion.

Let’s GetHiking! for the Aspiring Hiker. Let’s say you and/or your partner recognize that getting out of the house and into the fresh air of spring would be a good thing — you’re just uncertain about how to make that happen. Our Let’s GetHiking! for the Aspiring Hiker program is just the thing for the reluctant hiker eager to take those first daunting steps. We start with a Zoom intro session, then move on to eight guided hikes to help you become a confident, competent hiker. Includes a copy of our “Let’s GetHiking! A Quick and Comprehensive Guide for the Aspiring Hiker.” Learn more and sign up here for single hikers, here for couples/families.

Let’s GetCamping! Concierge Service. Sometimes, you really crave a night to yourself (especially after a year of not having a night to yourself). And there’s nothing wrong with that, especially when one of you (you decide which one) has that night to yourself in the woods. And why stop at one night? Why not two? Our Let’s GetCamping! Concierge Service lets even non campers spend a night in a lux camp — spacious tent, comfy sleeping pads, rockin’ camp chairs, and more. And you don’t even have to think about it: Just show up and camp is there waiting for you. Learn more about our Let’s GetCamping program here.

GetBackpacking! Intro to Backpacking. Backpacking is the ultimate in getting away from it all, even if you’re only getting away for a weekend. Our three-part class consists of a gear (and getting to know one another) session; a 5-hour in-field training session; a weekend graduation trip to South Mountains State Park. Learn more and sign up here.

GetHiking! Southeast Podcast

This week on the GetHiking! Southeast Podcast we hike the Fonta Flora State Trail, play a round of Retail Therapy and check out which National Forests are starting to reopen. Check it out here.

The post We’re here to save your relationship! appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

“Hey, you still wanna ride? I’m off Friday.”

Even though we had discussed riding together a time or two, I was caught off-guard. I may have even blushed. Those first outdoors dates — be it for a backpack trip, to go climbing, to do a trail run — are fraught with tension. Are you as accomplished as you’ve let on? Can you really do 15-mile days in the Appalachians with a 35-pound pack? You may have done a 5.9 route, but that was 20 years and 30 pounds ago; can you do one today? And yes, you may have run 9-minute miles in a 10K — but that was on pavement, on a downhill course.

I’ve known Jason for at least a year, maybe two. I met him when he worked at Performance Bikes, always helpful with gear and patient to endure my latest tale from the trail. Then he showed up behind the counter at the local Bruegger’s, where I often work in the morning. We resumed our discussion of bikes, especially the mountain variety, to which we’re both partial.

This summer, I kept Jason updated on my training for ORAMM, he kept me apprised of his bike rebuild in anticipation of a trip out West this fall. We don’t speak directly to our abilities, but through what we do talk about — my bike “racing,” Jason’s rebuilding a lighter, faster bike — Jason, who is at least 20 years my junior, seems to think we’d be compatible on the trail. Which lead him to pop the question this morning.

“Sure, Friday’d be great,” I said. I then began combing through our past conversations to make sure I hadn’t oversold my skills. I’m pretty good at not doing that, at not portraying myself as something my physical appearance would suggest I’m not. I don’t think anyone has ever come away from a mountain bike conversation with me thinking, “Dang! That guy must be an animal.” And if there was an animal associated with the image they went away with it would be a flat one, on the roadway.

So … I’m a little nervous about our date to ride Friday morning.

For starters, with rare exception, the only person I’ve ridden with in several years has been Alan. And get that thought out of your head: Alan and I have an open riding relationship, he’ll be fine with me riding with Jason. I may not ride with other people but Alan, well, Alan will ride with anyone. Some weeks he may ride with five, six, seven different people. Sometimes he does rides with two different people in the same day. Sometimes he brings a friend along on our rides! And he loves a good group ride, the bigger the better. Not the lifestyle for me, but it works for him.

Me, I’m a little rusty in the company category.

What if we get out there and prove woefully incompatible. Fortunately, we’ve picked Harris Lake, a fairly neutral network, for our first ride. Good beginner warm-up loop that leads into a nice intermediate stretch. And with only a couple exceptions — some monster whoop-de-dos — the advance trail isn’t too technically taxing. I may not be the fastest guy around, but at Harris Lake I shouldn’t have to worry about embarrassing myself by getting off and walking. Still there’s the chance that after hitting the trail we may not see each other until we’re back to the trailhead, Jason leaning against his car, in his street clothes, checking his watch, waiting, as I hobble in exhausted. Awkward.

But you know, he’ll just have to accept me for the rider that I am. Maybe we finish up, talk about what a good ride it was, but secretly agree that it will never happen again. If that happens, fine. It’s not like I have to ride with someone else, that it someone how makes me a more complete cyclist. There’s nothing wrong with riding solo. Nothing at all.

Deep breaths, it’s just a ride. No worries.

Actually, there is one worry. I don’t have a decent kit to wear.

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