“The New Year stands before us, like a chapter in a book, waiting to be written. We can help write that story by setting goals.” Melody Beattie “When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don’t adjust the goals, adjust the action steps.” Confucius Back in late August I set a goal to do 100 miles of hiking by the end of the year. I wrote it down and downloaded an app to help track my progress. Yesterday…
The next step in building a strong, trail ready physique will be to focus on core work. On the trail, having a strong and solid core will help you maneuver obstacles, haul packs for miles and will reinforce your overall strength training. During winter backpacking, in particular, pack poundage can tend to add up with the addition of cold weather gear. The pack here was around 50-60 lbs! Fortunately core training is not just beneficial on the trail, but also…
“Oh, Wow”, I exclaimed as we rounded a bend and were presented with a fantastic view of a glistening, rocky cliff face towering over a small pool of water formed from Pickle Creek. Rows of icicles, formed from recent rain and groundwater runoff, adorned the cliffs and lit up the small alcove. This was the pinnacle of the scenic loop at the farthest point of the Whispering Pines Trail in Missouri’s Hawn State Park. It was a crisp, early December…
A few years back I was on a 3-day Outward Bound (OB) backpacking adventure in the mountains near Leadville, Colorado. It was late October and snow was already knee deep in some areas and just plain slick and wet in others. The goal was a summit attempt on a local 13’er. We were off trail and learning map and compass skills. We had just started day two and were a little over 11,000 feet when a member of our team…
