Our First Group Meet-up and Hike 

So this morning we had our first “group” hike. And I have to say that if I hadn’t made the commitment and was going to be held accountable then I wouldn’t have made it out on my own. I was out later than normal for me and was hitting the snooze bar a few times this morning. If I had been doing it alone, I would have rolled over and gone back to sleep. But instead I had committed to meeting a group, so I rolled out of bed and prepared myself to hike.

We threw the idea out there in the middle of the week that we were hiking Saturday morning and if anyone wanted to join us they could. It was sort of short notice because that’s what we do. “Hey it looks like I’m free. Do you want to hike tomorrow?”

Since we started out on some fairly easy trails, that’s what we wanted to offer others too. We planned to just start with a one mile hike nearby for some of the non-hikers and would maybe add on to it if others wanted to go further.

We had three or four say they were going and several interested. But this morning we had two other people show up ready to go. (My mom’s sleep patterns were disrupted from the concert the night before, so she didn’t feel up to trying it this morning so she says. We will get you next time Lisa!)

Val and Crystal were the two willing to give us a chance and join us. Thanks by the way! We did the short but with a small hill LakeView Trail at St. Joe. This is about the only trail at St. Joe that has a pretty view. For the most part it’s just woods with nothing spectacular to see, but hey it’s close so we aren’t complaining too much.

We knocked the mile and a quarter out in around 20 minutes so not a bad hiking pace. And yes I was still breathing hard on that one hill.

Once we were done with the one mile, we decided to try the four mile Hickory Ridge Trail. This doubles as a horse trail so the terrain is a little different. Besides having to maneuver around piles of manure, it is a rocky trail. At times it felt like we were walking down a dry creek bed. I’m looking for something positive to say about this trail and all I can come up with is that it is close to home. It doesn’t offer any scenic views and at times is hard on the ankles. I don’t think I’ll be revisiting this trail very often. But hey I can check it off the list as done so there’s the upside.

The trail suggests four miles at a recommended three hour allotted time. We kept our 22 minutes per mile pace and finished just at an hour and a half. There are a couple good size hills. Heavy breathing was involved. But overall I agree with the moderate rating.

It was a nice cool morning for getting a few miles under our belts – 5.47 to be exact. I’m thankful I had the accountability of meeting the group and didn’t roll over and hit the snooze.

I’m sure sometime here in the near future we will suggest another “meet up and join us.” The option of a short hike with adding on a little more would be best option again. Notice may only be a few days in advance, but if you have the opportunity to join us we would love to have you!