What I Wish I Knew Before I Started Hiking: Some Tales and a Couple Fails From the Trail

Well, hey there!

Looking to take a hike? Get outdoors and get inspired? Up your fitness and find a little peace and possibly a dose of mental clarity? Cool!

If you’re here looking for advice on scaling Everest or what to pack for a thru-hike on the Appalachian Trail, well, you’re probably in the wrong place. After all, I’m a slightly overweight, middle-aged woman who came to the trail quite by accident. But if you’re looking to get started in the great outdoors by hitting the trail, you’re in the right place.

First, a little about me: on a road trip with my two kids – both in their early twenties – we stopped at the Grand Canyon. It was magnificent as Grand Canyons tend to be. At that moment, I decided that I would like to hike said Grand Canyon to the bottom (which I couldn’t see) and back out.

At the time, I had zero hiking experience. That’s right. Zero. Zip. Nada. Seems crazy, right? Yeah, I thought so too. So I tried to squelch the idea. But I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Armed with the Google search bar and fueled by a couple of glasses of Cabernet, I made a reservation for Phantom Ranch, a lodge at the bottom of the canyon, which can only be reached on foot.

And so it began.

The reservation was twelve months away; time was on my side. Time to train, or more likely, time to back out. Spoiler alert: I didn’t back out and had a year of incredible adventure, which led to another happy accident, the 52 Weeks 52 Hikes community. But enough about that for now.

We’re here today to talk about getting started. You don’t have to have a big, hairy, lofty goal. But it’s totally okay if you do! You may want to do a couple of miles at your local state park or nature preserve. It’s all good, and there are tons of reasons – along with research to back it up – to get outdoors and on the trail, which we’ll discuss in greater detail later on.

I want to share some of the things I wish I’d known when I’d walked out the door for those early adventures. Mistakes were made! I’d also like to share some stories – tales from the trail – that will hopefully amuse and entertain you. If they inspire you, well, that would be incredible.

Getting outdoors and reconnecting with nature led me to reconnect with myself. It also led me to a life filled with adventure, incredible people, and amazing experiences. Instead of looking at beautiful pictures on social media, I’m looking at them in person. And you can too. Remember, the hardest part is deciding to go.

Ready? If you’re still reading, that’s a good sign. Double-knot those shoelaces, and let’s take a hike!

You’ve just read the introduction to What I Wish I Knew Before I Started Hiking: Some Tales and a Couple Fails From the Trail, coming out Summer 2021.