Friday, March 1, 2013

Rediscovering my love of hiking

I've been absent for awhile (sorry!) and if you're wondering what happened to Weigh-In Wednesdays, fear not. It'll be back next week, no matter how embarrassing an update it may be.

Today, though, I want to talk about hiking.

Me (yep, with long red hair and braces), Caitlin, Lauren and Amy (and Parker!)
at the top of Inspiration Point, on my very first hike -- January 22, 2012.
 
I went on my very first hike a little over a year ago, LOVED it, swore I would become an avid hiker, went on a few hikes over the next several months, and then promptly forgot all about hiking, until last weekend! I got a small group of ladies together to visit my first love, Inspiration Point. The weather was absolutely PERFECT that day, and the group of girls was pretty spectacular as well.

Me, Natalie, Michelle, Nikki and Lindsey about halfway up.
Stopped for breath and for the sneak peek at the ocean view!

I was the caboose for much of the hike. These ladies meant business!

Such a clear, gorgeous day. Seriously, who wouldn't want to hike up to see this on a regular basis?

At the top! Nikki, Lindsey, Natalie, Michelle, me.

I wore my heart rate monitor to see how many calories I would burn on a two-hour hike, and it turns out it's kind of a lot. Like, A THOUSAND. And also, I didn't realize that hiking uphill gets my heart rate WAY up there. It may even be more intense than the MOST intense spin class I've ever taken, and that's saying a lot.

So probably I am just a little bit out of shape, because I know I've done this hike before and not needed to stop to catch my breath every 15 minutes. Or possibly the girls I was with were just way more hardcore than the other groups I'd hiked with previously, and I had to work harder to keep up? Maybe a little bit of both.

Anyway, this Sunday I'm branching out from my trusty Inspiration Point and trying out Rattlesnake Trail for the first time! I'll be going with Michelle (pictured above, also known as my soul mate) and another new friend, Ashlee (who happens to be my dear friend Amy's new roomie)! If anyone else in the area wants to join in, let me know and we'll coordinate with ya. The more the merrier!

3 comments:

  1. After I was done with the Army, I swore I would never hike, run, or camp again (8 years of extreme roughing it every other month or so is enough to wear you down!). True to my word, Mother Nature and I called it quits for the past 12 years, until this very hike that you inspired me to go on. And I had a BLAST. So... thanks for that! :-) Look forward to more!

    Oh, and I totally believe that you burn on the order of 1000 calories. I could NOT stop eating after we got back! ;-P

    ReplyDelete
  2. yay! happy to see this post and that you're out hiking! I miss hiking, like a lot. But miss you girl!! Nile and I will be in SB for a wedding March 20-24th and I would LOVE to see you- even if its just for a quick lunch/coffee whatever.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Loved reading about your hike and seeing the beautiful pictures!

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for your comment! I try to reply to all comments within the post itself so we can keep the conversation going.