Over 50 Outside

A few months ago, my husband forwarded me an email and said something to the effect of “I found this hiking group for women over 50. You should apply.” I’d always liked the outdoors. I mean, who doesn’t envision themselves the next Cheryl Strayed hiking 2,650 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail? OK, well maybe I never really envisioned that but I do like a good vista when I see one.

The next thing I know, I’m one of 150 women from around the country chosen from more than 2,800 applications for the Over 50 Outside Challenge and committing to hiking once a week for a year.

The next thing I know, I’m in a Facebook group with women who are introducing themselves with pictures from Mt. Rainier and the Appalachian Trail, with the same sinking feeling I had that time in college when I wandered into a 400-level calculus class by mistake. You can read more about how I got into it here.

Ten weeks in and I’m 25 percent through the challenge, and I can honestly say it’s been a blessing. I’m celebrating being a quarter of the way through the delightful journey started on the first weekend in September to hike 52 times in a year. I still consider myself a novice, hiking anywhere between two and five miles and breaking in the boots, learning how to navigate and taking the trails literally one step at a time. I’m amazed at how many hiking trails are within — and within striking distance of St. Louis. Some weekends have been easier to get motivated for than others, for sure, but I’ve not regretted one of them — even under a few extraordinary personal challenges thrown our way these past two months. In five weeks’ time, we lost our dog and my husband lost his father. In many ways, I don’t know what I would have done without this program.

Below is a slideshow of 13 hikes, along with a few things I’ve learned:

• Not knowing where you’re going or how long it’s going to take to get there can be an opportunity for growth — as long as you have a good compass and map. Or GPS.
• On the flip side, even if you’ve passed this way before, it’s absolutely true that no trail is the same trail every time.
• Hiking solo is awesome but it’s better with a buddy — or the love of your life. 
• A deep breath in a forest is more restorative than any deep breath anywhere else, because there really is healing in nature; there is medicine in the trees. It’s tangible. You can feel it.
• A vista can change you, even if the pictures don’t do it justice.
• By all means take the picture,, then put the damn phone away and take it all in.
• The fall of 2021 in the Midwest will go down as one of the most brilliant, beautiful autumns, or maybe it’s because I’ve just begun to keep score.