Choosing a hike, part 1: Wow!

I really think the way to keep on track with walking every day is to pick a great hike and work toward being able to do it - and enjoy doing it!

With that in mind, I went to a website about hiking Mt Rainier. Mt Rainier is high on my list because I've never been there, despite the fact that a college friend raved about Mt Rainier constantly. She could see it from her bedroom, growing up in Seattle as she did. So I've always wanted to go.

So I visited the website, and here is a sample of hikes listed. Notice that I have a problem here.

Indian Henrys Hunting Ground (via Kautz Creek - 11.5 miles). The trail begins near the 
Kautz Creek Picnic Area and ascends 3000 feet, passing by Kautz Creek and through an 
old growth forest before rapidly climbing to the south flank of Mt Ararat. The trail soon enters 
a series of meadows before climbing a final ridge and descending to the Ranger Cabin in 
the meadows of Indian Henrys. These areas are the home of several bears as well as deer 
and other animals.


Golden Lakes Trail (34.5 miles). From the trailhead at the end of Westside Road, the trail 
leads to an area of fifteen or more small lakes was so named because of the golden sunset 
colors reflected from the lakes' surfaces. The meadows of Sunset Park are abundant with 
wildflowers in mid-summer and are host to black bears foraging on the plentiful supply of 
huckleberries early in the fall.  Gorgeous spot for photos.


Van Trump Park Trail (5.8 miles). Starting from a parking lot four miles east of Longmire 
(parking is often full), the trail climbs 2000 feet to Comet Falls, one of the highest waterfalls 
in the park, and then onwards to Van Trump Park. For two miles the trail climbs steadily up 
hill until it reaches the base of Comet Falls. From there it switchbacks 0.6 mile uphill to the 
junction with the Rampart Ridge Trail. Van Trump Park is to the right, where the trail winds 
through the meadows until it dead ends in 0.5 mile.


and this one:


Camp Muir Trail (9 miles). This hike begins in Paradise, rises through snowfields, and ends 
4600 feet higher on the slopes of the mountain. The hike is long, arduous and potentially 
hazardous if the weather turns nasty.  Make sure you have waterproof shoes - at 9 miles 
with glaciers - its not a day hike for the kids !


Don't they sound lovely? Don't they sound hard? They do to me. I'm not ready for both a 5.8 mile hike and climbing 2000 feet. 


Back to work. One week of walking is not going to do it!

Some kid hikes with photos

These are a few I gleaned from sites known to have descriptions and photos of wonderful hiking kids:

Thanksgiving Weekend
Skyline to the Sea
Pescadero 2010 backpack with a 4 year old
Montibello 2010 little hikers are just-turned-4 and 2 1/2

Full disclosure: These are my very own hiking grandkids. YAY!

Hiking with kids

Maybe it's from years of having children in our lives, but I don't think I would enjoy a hike nearly as much alone as I would having a child along to add some extra sense of wonder. And just plain to share it with.

Creating memories is big to me. I so enjoy the few memories I have of my grandparents, and wish there had been more. This is a great time for me to spend time building memories that my grandkids can carry into their senior years.

Beyond memories, I want my grandkids to develop a sense of natural beauty and delight in the natural world around them. I want them to turn to God's creation at times of confusion instead of to man's substitutes. In short, I want them to value what I value.

I learned about these things at Girl Scout camp starting when I was 10. That was when I took my first hike.

How early can a child learn to hike? I'd like to know. I want to include here the hikes our little tykes have taken.

So far I have not been on significant hikes with grandchildren, just a few tromps through the woods. But I look forward to sharing this passion with them.

Minor update: elevation gain

First, there's a great workout room here at Trevi. Now that the weather report shows rain or snow or both together for the foreseeable future, I'll be doing some indoor walks.

Second, I also didn't walk yesterday. Still afflicted.

Third, I am doing this wrong! I am focusing on how but not what. I am focusing on how to get to 20 miles a week instead of why I would want to do that. I need to get back to thinking about what I'm preparing for, the delicious hikes I will become eligible to do once I can walk X miles in comfort.

I did learn something important this past week: when they say in hiking descriptions that there's so much elevation gain, such as 5.4 miles, 3200 ft elevation gain, it means the total for the trip, not the net.

So that means, you could go up and down a lot and all those ups would contribute to the elevation gain. Or you could walk straight up a mountain 3200 feet.

When I walk around here, I do a lot more elevation gain than I was giving myself credit for! I may go up net 500 feet, but getting there was all ups and downs, and could have doubled the gain.

Bottom line: I am not as far from being able to do real hikes as I'd thought. YAY. Other bottom line: My goal includes loving it, and so far I'm not there.

Dav 5 - no walk

Probably because of the thing I ate, whatever it was, whenever it was, that imposed a stay-at-home day on me.

OR I was just a lazy bum.

One day is not a trend!

Day 4 - quick walk, more to come

It's cold out there! About 34 degrees. The sun is setting soon, though it is only 4:32 MT. I walked around our block, which is about .53 miles I discovered. Here are the totals so far (so far because tonight we are going to a concert and will put on close to another mile):

Goal for today: 2.50 miles
Goal for this walk: 1.7 miles
Actual miles walked: 1.64
Speed: 2.6mph*
Time: 38:54 minutes
How I feel: fine. There are some good-sized hills in this neighborhood, and the first one I came to, after walking less than 2 minutes, was tough. But the second and third times it was ok!

*What was different about this walk is that someone called and I needed to talk to him. So I probably walked more slowly than I would have.

And then, after the concert, which was only across the street at the Conference Center:

Actual miles walked: about .55 miles
Speed: 1.7mph (mostly stairs)
Time: 16:30 min

This does not count standing in line, which took quite a while!

Grand totals for the day:

2.19 miles
about 45 minutes

A little short!

Where we live

This is where we live in the winter. It's called Trevi Towers. We're on the back, and look toward West High School (Salt Lake City) and the Salt Lake airport.

It takes us 6 minutes to walk to the Conference Center, 10 to Temple Square, and 11 to the Family History Library.

We have indoor parking right at our door, plus there's guest parking for when our friends and family visit.

We have a small condo, just one bedroom and one bath. The kitchen is small but fully equipped, fortunately, and we have lovely afternoon sunshine through large slider-windows that go out to 2 separate balconies.

It's nice to be able to be here, close to some of our family and to places we love to visit.