Why I love Hiking

Growing up in Northern California our family spent time in the outdoors and went on hikes while we were on camping trips or vacations. Hitting a trail was a great way to experience some of the beautiful places out in nature. We traveled to many national and state parks as I was growing up and we would explore the easy and most popular trails in the parks. My favorite hikes were ones that ended with something spectacular. I have memories of hiking to beautiful cascading waterfalls, forest creeks and many gorgeous landscapes.

In college I lived in the Bay area and found myself venturing to the Santa Cruz mountains as often as I could. I explored a handful of trails in these mountains and hiked to some famous views of Silicon Valley below. I was mostly occupied with my studies, friends and partying during this time in my life so I didn’t hike all that much. After moving back to my hometown and getting married I started slowly getting back into hiking a little more. My husband and I ventured to trails in the mountains near our home and I really started to love those adventures. Soon I started finding friends that wanted to join me and we set out to hike new trails. I find hiking a great way to catch up with someone as you can talk along the way, soak up some nature together and get some good exercise.

My love for hiking really grew in 2020. While healing from my bilateral mastectomy the lockdowns from the pandemic started. I spent a lot of time inside like most people did, watching t.v, movies and scrolling social media. I came across some profiles of women on Instagram who were sharing their hikes and outdoor adventures and I started following all of them. They inspired me to tackle longer, harder hikes and showed me what was possible in the hiking world. That is when I decided I wanted to get more into hiking and start taking on some new trails. I made a list of local trails I wanted to tackle and decided that I also wanted to get into backpacking.

The first thing I did was download the All Trails App on my phone. This app allows you to search and find trails nearby, make lists and save hikes you want to do in the future. It is my primary tool for finding trails and I can’t imagine hiking without it. I pay for the PRO version which includes offline tracking which means I can download the map before I go and use it when I don’t have cell service. I made lists in the app and organized all the hikes I dreamed of doing. My first list was “Local Hikes” and I was determined to cross them all off my list first. Then, when I traveled somewhere I would look up trails ahead of time then make a list for that location and save the hikes under there. As soon as I was fully healed from my surgery I hit the trails and started discovering many new beautiful places. I started exploring nearby trails and found some amazing places I didn’t even know existed within an hour of my home. I then joined multiple Facebook hiking groups that pertained to my interest. Some of the groups I am a part of are “Girls Who Hike Nor Cal”, “Women Who Hike Nor Cal”, and “Northern California Hiking” Through these groups I have met and hiked with many women who are also looking for friends to hike with. This has opened me up to new areas, new trails and new friends.

My interest in hiking then spread to a curiosity with backpacking after diving deep into through hiking videos on YouTube. I watched the adventure vlogs from multiple women who hiked the entire Pacific Crest Trail and I was so inspired. I had only been backpacking once in high school during a summer church camp I attended with my best friend. I figured since I love the camping and I love hiking I would also love backpacking. I decided to go all in and I started buying the gear needed. I went on my first trip with a group of women I met through the Facebook Page “Girls Who Hike Nor Cal” in the summer of 2021 and after that I was hooked. This is where my obsession for hiking and backpacking really took off. Now a couple of years later I’ve explored many more trails and have gone on many backpacking trips.

Hiking has brought a joy and peacefulness to my life. It is my escape to leave the world’s problems behind, turn off all the noise and just be in nature. I’m thankful that I’m healthy enough to be able to do this activity and appreciative for those who have inspired me to get out there. I have so many trails on my bucket list and I look forward to exploring them all! I’ll be sharing my hiking adventures on this blog in the hopes I can inspire other women to get out and explore the outdoors.