SETTING SUMMER HIKING GOALS

by Christine Reed

Christine offers expert advice on goal setting for your summer!

Setting #Goals for 2021 Hiking

At the beginning of a new year or a new season— we tend to look ahead and look back. We want to set goals and reflect on our successes. In hindsight, it seems as if nothing went as planned in 2020. Whether that meant you stayed off trail completely or adjusted your hiking to accommodate the rules and regs of a COVID era, most of us have got some making up to do.

"We want to set goals and reflect on our successes.

It can feel pointless trying to make plans right now while we all still hang in limbo, wondering what our access to travel and trails will be this summer. Maybe the heartbreak of canceled trips and crossed-out dates on the calendar has left you feeling uneasy about setting yourself up for another round of disappointments. But if a full year of the pandemic has taught me anything, it's that getting outside cures all that ails. And that a change of plans is better than no plan at all.

In March 2020, I was sitting on a beach in Key West, eating a chocolate-covered key lime pie on a stick and solidifying my winter tan. I was working from a friend's apartment and marveling at how fortunate I was to have landed a remote gig in the travel industry, no less! I'd been living full time on the road for almost two years, trying to manifest a way to keep it going, and it had finally come together. Two weeks later, I was snowed into my partner's bedroom in Denver, unemployed, and wondering if we were going to run out of food before the grocery stores restocked rice and beans.

Throughout April, I barely got out of bed. I devoured every book I could lay my hands on and was eternally grateful that my partner had a secure job. I glared out the window every time it snowed, lamenting I had to leave the beach and return to Denver. As the lockdown went from a temporary precautionary exercise to a new way of being, I realized I couldn’t stay cooped up in the city any longer. The information became more apparent that the safest place to be is outside, so another vandwelling friend and I hatched a plan and headed to Wyoming—one of the country's least populated states. A summer full of climbing and backpacking later, I was renewed and refreshed, ready to return to my home base in Denver. As another summer fast approaches, I don't want to waste any good weather days wallowing in bed, so I'm planning this time. And you can too!

I was snowed into my partner's bedroom in Denver, unemployed, and wondering if we were going to run out of food before the grocery stores restocked rice and beans.

There's no wrong way to go about setting hiking goals for 2021. Whether you're vaccinated and comfortable and decide to hit the road, or you want to hang around your backyard a little longer, here are some ideas to get you thinking.

Hike by Number

Miles: Choose several miles to hike – per week, month, or the whole season.

# of Hikes: It may be a little late to join the 52 Hike Challenge if you're trying to finish by the end of the year, (or not—if you're ready to crank out some double hike weeks), but you can choose several hikes to complete for the summer hiking season.

Elevation Gain: A fun way to up the challenge of your season and make significant ascents a part of your summer.

Hike by Trail

Greatest Hits List: Check out some listicles (or previous issues of Hike It Off) for "best hikes" in alternately paints in your local area and work your way through them.

Segments: If you're fortunate enough to have access to a long trail, but a thru-hike isn't in the cards, section hiking is the perfect way to piece together the journey.

Peakbagging: Depending on where you live, there may be a quintessential tick list all made up for you; some classics include Colorado 14ers, The Six Pack of Peaks, and New England 4000ers.

Water Features: Spend the season on a scouting mission for water-- waterfalls, swimming holes, rivers, hot springs, oh my!

Volunteer

Give Back: Find out who manages your local trail systems and how you can help. Opportunities abound to donate your time or money to help maintain the paths that make your summer worth hiking.

Now is the perfect time to do some research about your local area, set goals, and get psyched. Make your to-do list, pick up a guide book, invite your best hiking buddies, Hike reserve permits by campsites, . Buy new tubes of sunscreen dump last and year's trail mix and crumbs out of the top pocket of your day pack.

Tag #hikeitoff and @hikeitoffofficial with your summer plans so we can get psyched with you!

This year, I have four main objectives:

#1: Hike Ten 14ers This will double the number of 14ers I've hiked in my six-year hiking career. I've chosen most of the San Juan range peaks because I will have the flexibility this season to make the drive from Denver and take extended multi-day trips. While researching options, I found that Eolus, North Eolus, Windom, and Sunlight are all accessible from the same approach. They will make an excellent 4-day backpacking trip in which I promptly got my partner and best friend psyched on and will likely be a highlight of our summer.

#2: Thru-hike the CO Trail This will be my second longest hi Hke ikof e A byLL TIME. Since my long section hike on the App Trailalachian Trail in 2015, I haven't hiked more than 100 miles in a trip. The Colorado Trail clocks in at 486 miles, and I'm eagerly planning for six weeks of exploring the state I now call home. Several 14ers are also accessible from the CO Trail, and we plan to check out at least a couple along the way.

#3 Hike the Boulder Skyline POSTMODERN Traverse al PAINT ternate ING. ly pa Stella ints in This will be a redempti oil an on d watercolorhike. It's a 16.5-mile point-to-point that summits the chain of 5 peaks visible from Boulder. A well-known training ground and test piece for many trail runners, I attempted it twice in 2020. In April, I got turned around due to hip-deep snow. Then I got turned around again in August because of the smoke from nearby fires. This year, I'll be keeping a close watch on conditions to have a successful hike.

#4 Volunteer with the Colorado Trail Foundation and Colorado 14ers I want to give back to the trails and organizations that will achieve my goals possible this year. I have already registered for a trail work project with the Colorado Trail Foundation and put my name in to help Colorado 14ers Initiative throughout the season.

Christine Reed is an avid amateur outdoors woman. Her upbringing as a military brat taught her to see everywhere and nowhere as home. She didn't start hiking until after college, when she realized she wasn't sure where her life was headed and sought out a defined path on the Appalachian Trail. Her backpacking memoir, Alone in Wonderland is a story about backpacking the Wonderland Trail around Mt Rainier. But it's also a story about defining who we are in the world and challenging ideas about who we should be.