At the beginning of the year, I signed myself up for the 52 Hike Challenge. The challenge involves taking 52 hikes in the year. While the idea is to take one hike per week, you can do the challenge in whatever way works for you. Basically, it’s a little extra motivation to get outdoors and enjoy nature through hiking.
Since I’m doing the challenge, it means that both my husband and daughter have joined the challenge with me. Most hikes we do as a family, but D and I have done some couple hikes as well. Either way, it’s good quality time together as a family or as a couple. We always seem to have some really good talks while we’re hiking.
Some of the hikes we’ve done are short and easy while others are more difficult and a little longer. We’re working our way up to longer hikes and harder terrain. When possible, we take the dogs with us on our hikes. Unfortunately, Joshua Tree National Park doesn’t allow dogs on the trails, so, much to their dismay, they have to stay home whenever we head to Joshua Tree.
The dogs love going on hikes with us. They still need more training on leash as they have a bad habit of pulling when they get side-tracked by all of the new sights, sounds, and smells. Wiley is our tracker while Wyatt is our chaser. The two of them together can be a little crazy as they tend to egg each other on.
While I don’t know if we’ll be able to hit the 52 hike mark this year, that is the goal that we’re striving to achieve. As the year moves along, we’ll be adding in more backpacking to the hikes. Eventually, we want to do some overnight trips, if possible. Once again, we need to work with the dogs as we’d want to take them with us. They’ve never slept in a tent, so we’d need to start off by doing some trial runs in the backyard and then close by in case things don’t go as planned.
Have you ever participated in a hiking challenge? Which one? I’d love to hear about where you are hiking. Are you hiking as a family, couple, or by yourself? If you’re not currently hiking, what’s keeping you from heading outdoors and enjoying nature?
Our 52 Hike Challenge 2017 Hikes
(Click on images below to see photos from our hikes)
Twitter: mommy_engineer
I definitely want to do this! My hubby and I want to spend more time outdoors with our kids and we live in New Mexico and its basically perfect weather year round! I’m in!
Twitter: livergoodhikes
Awesome! I completed the 2016 52 Hike Challenge Adventure Series and have started my 2017 52 Hike Challenge Explorer Series. I’m hoping to add in more backpacking trips this year instead of exclusively day hiking. I bet you can get all 52 in, even if some of them are just getting out for a quick mile or two in your local area. A hike is a hike is a hike. Good luck!!
Twitter: biancaknauf
This is a great idea, my son is 7 and building up strength so we have done a few short hike this year so far. This is such a brilliant way to discover gems in your own city and surrounding areas. Being outdoors always lifts my spirits and gets me out of my head.
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