hiking – The Roaming Roths

Final Steps

I set a goal at the beginning of the year to hit the goal of 100 miles on the trails. Little did I know that Covid would surface and that many things would ultimately derail throughout this year. This past week the weather was a little more forgiving than 2020 as a whole has been. I managed to hit the 70 mile mark this past week ( including a 4 mile hike I failed to record in my stats). I have debated whether I could get the last 30 in before the ball drops on New Year’s Eve. Today the news forecasted a “crippling” snow storm for our area this week, so it seems unlikely I will be able to squeeze them in if the trails are covered for some time. I felt it would be best to post some of my final footsteps of 2020.

I think as humans we like to contain things in timeframes…as if on New Year’s Eve things are magically going to change. None of us know what next year will hold other than regardless of the Covid situation, everything just looks a lot different, and some of it may be permanent. Here’s to making it to the finish line this year!

Abigail

Today we hit the Abigail Trail in Michaux State Forest, my 6th hike of the year. This was considered a moderate trail and we kept a good pace on it. The basic loop is just shy of five miles but there are plenty of crossover trails to extend the distance and this one links up to Rocky Knob if you are super motivated. I recommend taking this trail loop clockwise to get the most incline. You’ll trek the ridge for sometime and then the back part of the loop is an easy decline to the end. On a good note, I think my friend’s husband may finally be trusting me not to lose his wife in the woods! Good thing most of us in the group have a good sense of direction.

This trail had some great scenery. I’m looking forward to seeing how some of these trails look in the spring. We have debated hitting all of these in each season to find our favorite trails for each season. Mother Nature was kind enough to give us some sunshine today so I was shedding layers as we went.

I finally found some good trail shoes. I had told myself I wasn’t allowed to invest in them until I had been consistently hitting the trails for a month. These grand New Year’s ideas sometimes have a habit of dissolving in the first month of the year. Excited to try these Merrell Siren Edge Q2’s on the next hike. Thanks to my friend Bonnie for the recommendation!

We have had such a mild winter that I am hoping we can continue hiking into spring. I worry March may have it in for us but we’ll keep our fingers crossed.

January Journeys

I did not leap into my January hiking goals quite as I had hoped. Between the ongoing back injury and then an unexpected shoulder injury, I couldn’t get as aggressive as I had wanted to on the trail levels of difficulty. Anything too rugged would have been a little risky from a stability standpoint. We did cover a stretch of the Appalachian Trail from Chambersburg to Newville.

Today we finished out the last hike of the month and rewarded ourselves with some Bloody Mary’s and brunch afterwards. I am not sure I would say any of us truly got exercise in today since we stopped for a lot of pictures, but we told ourselves that to justify the drinks. I think somedays we get more mental therapy from these hikes than physical therapy. It’s amazing what a couple miles in the mountains and some obscene laughter can do to clear the head.

I have another three sessions of physical therapy to get in this week and am hoping to have my strength up by next weekend so we can take it up a couple notches. I am looking for recommendations on a new pair of hiking shoes. I had been eyeing up the North Face 110 GTX’s but am open to any suggestions from those of you more experienced!

Trail Time for 2020

No better planning is done than on New Year’s Eve by a bunch of motivated people several bottles and a handful of shots into the night. Now I didn’t take it quite to the extreme planning that my friend did. She managed to drink enough to sign herself up for the Pittsburgh Half Marathon in May. Keep in mind she has never run. Ever. But alas, a New Year’s Day hike also sounded wonderful at the time, and like a ruthless dictator, I held my hungover friends to it this morning.

I had decided last month to track my miles on the trails, both foot and bike. I asked my friend to take the lead on selecting a nice beginner hike for the year. She suggested Sunset Rocks. 3 miles she said…easy peasy. She is an avid hiker, but informed me on the trail that she has no actual concept of distance. So almost 5 miles, 3 hours and 900 ft of elevation later, I am sinking myself into some mashed potatoes buried under pork and sauerkraut to make up for the 1,100 my app claims I burned today.

I know this isn’t necessarily travel, but we were certainly out and about today taking in the fresh mountain air. The All Trails app allows me to track my trail stats, add photos, see reviews of trails, etc. It also allows you to follow your favorite hikers in the area. You can track my weekly trail time on there, but I felt it fun to kick off the new year with some pictures on here as well. Welcome to 2020!

2020 Planning

It’s been a while since I have had travel on the mind, but a good friend is settling this weekend on her new beach house and it triggered a little pre-planning for the upcoming year.

We have decided to take an every other year approach to our foreign travel so for now we are focused on some local vacations. We’ll circle back around our 2021 thoughts shortly. I need to save up the travel funds again for that!

Obviously the beach house with our friends is on the list for this year. I am all up for some sand beneath my toes and seafood for days. I think this year we’d like to get in some deep sea fishing and some surf time. The kids have always wanted to try surfing.

But let’s talk about my latest intrigue and where I would love to get feedback from other travelers for a potential adult trip. The Yurt. What is a Yurt? I am going to let someone else’s fingers explain that first. What is a Yurt?

My coworker takes off to these every so often for some decompression time. I am sort of enticed at the thought of going off the grid in this mini hideaway for several days of silence and some outdoor adventure.

The question now becomes location. I have had the Pacific Crest Trail pop into mind several times. I had read Wild a few years back, and I just completed a documentary on the trail on amazon Prime Video last week. I don’t have the time nor the hips for a full trail hike, but I imagine it’s not hard to find some beautiful locations along the trail with some Yurts. I would be curious to get opinions on some of your favorite Yurts out there across the United States.

My other option, and maybe it’s the cold, is to just hop a plane to the Virgin Islands. Who knows, but it’s time to begin planning!

As for our next overseas trip, it’s been narrowed down to Italy, Iceland or Czech. I am sure those who know me well have a good idea on how this one will end. Planning for that trip will start middle of the year.

Nashville Trails

We took off to Nashville this weekend to visit one of our best friends from school for a little pick me up. We started our trip off with a delayed flight through some stormy skies but made up for the lost time by killing 3 bottles of wine till the clock ticked past 3 am. It was a slow roll morning for all of us and the coffee was flowing, sunlight was in full force and Orion was ready to go!

We hit Percy Warner Park for a 7-mile morning hike. The stair entrance up to the trails far prettier in person. The heat and humidity here is a bit miserable but we were able to sweat off the over indulgence in wine from last night. Parts of the trail were a bit steep and it was really hard to capture the beauty and depth of the mountains in pictures. We got a bit disoriented on the mountainside and started to plan for our dramatic mountain escape by moonlight. But alas we found the car and eventually some well needed showers before our next excursion.