Smart & Savvy Hiking Blog

Begin journaling the journey

lipker — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 18:18:36 +0000

Keeping a journal can be a lifesaver to keep your thoughts, ideas and feelings in one place, as well as an interesting way to get to know yourself. Remember when you were a little girl with your first diary with lock and key? Let the words flow like you did then. Reveal your secrets, thoughts and observations.

Here are some warm-up exercises to help you get started in the journaling process:

What do you want more than anything in your life? Why do you want it?
How will you do/get it? Break it into small steps.
Write down the names of at least two people who will help you.
Pick a start date and write it down now.
How are you going to stick with it?
How will you evaluate your success or the experience?

For more tips on journaling, make sure to check out pages 134-137 of Smart and Savvy Hiking.

Hiking with kids

lipker — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 22:12:02 +0000

As a general rule set your hiking goals for your family or group based on the youngest child’s ability, and make sure that no child ever walks or runs beyond immediate sight of at least one adult.

Here is a brief guide to hiking with “little legs”:

Infant to 2 years old: Great opportunity to take advantage of paved or well-maintained paths. You will be either carrying them or pushing a stroller.

5 to 7 years old: Around 3 to 4 miles of easy terrain with plenty of space to run around and observe.

8 to 10 years old: You can easily cover 6 miles over variable terrain at a slow to moderate pace. This is a perfect time for your child to start inviting a friend to join you on a hike.

Preteens and teens: If the kids are enthusiastic, energetic and in good health they can keep up with active adults.

Catch on to Geocaching

lipker — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 22:16:14 +0000

Geocaching is a worldwide craze that promises to greatly expand your hiking range and self-assurance on wilderness trails, while at the same time providing some great adventure. Geocaching is a one-size-fits-all outdoor activity. You will need to have a GPS to participate, but if you don’t have one of your own yet, GPS rentals are available.

Geocachers use GPS technology to locate close to 500,000 caches or “treasure boxes” hidden in nearly every country in the world. The locations vary from busy downtown areas to remote caves. The “treasure” is usually a trinket or toy. You take something from the cache, leave something for the cache, and then add your name(s) to the cache’s logbook.

For Geocachers’ Golden Rules and more information on this great hiking activity check out pages 116-118 in my book, Smart and Savvy Hiking.

Make time for hiking, and quit feeling guilty!

lipker — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 18:42:22 +0000

If you really want to make hiking a part of your life try to set aside time for at least one hike per week. Your kids, job, and other responsibilities may make the scheduling difficult, but a little time for YOU can do a lot of good for you as well as the people around you. This time for yourself and participating in an activity you enjoy (whether it is for 20 minutes, 2 hours or a full day), helps keep you on track mentally and physically and really prevents feelings of resentment and keeps you from feeling burned-out and cranky.

“Skimping on life-balance hurts your overall motivation and often leads to procrastination, mistakes, and poor judgement. Devoting more time to what you love, like hiking, will actually boost your overall accomplishment and put zing into your life…” from page 21 of my book Smart and Savvy Hiking.

Reschedule your schedule to make hiking a priority

lipker — Tue, 12 May 2009 20:42:15 +0000

One more hurdle to discuss today moving you even closer to achieving your hiking goals is the process of rescheduling your schedule.

Make hiking a nonnegotiable calendar item and work other things around it. A goal will never be realized if it is not assigned a time and a place, like a deadline. If your plan is to start out with one hike a week, then you need to schedule one hike a week. You have control… Take it! And make that appointment with yourself.

One sure way to help you make this appointment to hike stick is to have a hiking buddy (or several you can call upon). Having a scheduled hike with a companion makes you accountable and gives you a built-in support system and hiking mates.

Here are a couple of steps that can help you schedule your hike this weekend and do it:

Check the weather forecast
Call one of your hiking buddies to see if she is free on Saturday
Hire a babysitter
Pack your lunch
* more hints on page 20 of my book, Smart and Savvy Hiking

Go on a subtraction diet for more hiking time

lipker — Tue, 05 May 2009 21:24:16 +0000

All of us have busy and hectic lives, and sometimes our priorities get lost on the non-essentials. In continuing to set up your hiking plan, here is another hurdle to discuss briefly today to help you move even closer to achieving your goals.

In my book, Smart and Savvy Hiking, I suggest going on a “subtraction diet”. To do this take a look at a record of a week’s time in your life, and give some hard thought to where your hours go, regardless of whether it is time spent inside or outside. Here is where the subtraction diet comes in: What can you give up starting now? What can you delegate, outsource, or eliminate all together? Probably a lot more than you think! Try this exercise.

Get motivated and define your goals

lipker — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 19:20:41 +0000

Now that spring is here, and summer is within reach, it is the perfect time to start motivating yourself to organize your upcoming hiking season! The first step is to define your hiking goals. In my book Smart and Savvy Hiking I outline a simple plan to get started and stay motivated by “Striking a Balance”.

Of course, starting a new plan usually involves overcoming some hurdles. The first hurdle to work through in starting a new program is to Define Your Goal. If your goal is to spend more time outdoors clearing your mind, and getting some exercise at the same time, then hiking is the perfect activity to achieve that goal. Take steps that are appropriate for you now in this particular moment in time, and then you can build upon this and grow your own program.

“Maybe all you can imagine right now is a 30-minute stroll at a local park two times a week. But you can envision a daylong excursion in the woods nearly every weekend by next spring. To get there from here means prioritizing, commitment, persistence, and follow-through.” (excerpt from Smart and Savvy Hiking, pg 16)

One of the most important factors in achieving your goals is follow-through. If you continue to actively do something to work toward your hiking goals, you are pretty much guaranteed to be on a path closer to achieving your desired results.

We will go over the next four hurdles in this sequence in upcoming posts.

Book signing at Tattered Cover!

lipker — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 02:18:42 +0000

Please join me at 7:30 p.m. on Tues., July 1 at the Tattered Cover Colfax Avenue where I will sign Day & Overnight Hikes in Rocky Mountain National Park. The Tattered Cover is located at 2526 East Colfax Avenue. Hope to see you there! — For those of you that didn’t know, this event was cancelled due to a family emergency. We will reschedule and I’ll post the details at a later date. - Kim

Book signing at Boulder Book Store!

lipker — Sun, 11 May 2008 20:55:48 +0000

Thank you to everyone that attended the event at the Boulder Book Store. I appreciate your support and for making the trek on a rainy, Wednesday evening.

Please join me at 7:30 p.m. on Wed., May 28, 2008 for my official book-release book signing. The book, Day and Overnight Hikes in Rocky Mountain National Park, is in the spotlight and I am really proud of this puppy! If you can’t make it to Boulder, we are planning more book signings, so I will keep you posted.

Fort Collins, Colorado Hiking

lipker — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 02:42:59 +0000

The hiking season is here and I’m ready to go. With a new book out and a few more in the hopper, I am staying close to home this summer. If you have any favorite local hikes, please let me know. The hikes need to be less than 25 minutes from the middle of Old Town. I have selfish motives for this criteria as well…the hikes will be turned into a book!