2016 Hiking Goals

Welcome to 2016!

2015 was crAAAAzy. Jesse moved to Iowa for a post-doc, I got a job teaching and still had to finish my dissertation. We got married in May. We finished remodeling the house we bought. It was busy. We only got out backpacking a couple times.

This year is going to be a little less chaotic, and so we'll get out more. Probably separately, because we're separated by a number of miles and state borders, but we'll get out more.

I've committed to two hiking challenges in 2016, and I'm really excited about them. 
1) The North Country Trail Hike 100 Challenge (more here)

This challenge is sponsored by the National Park Service, three cheers to them! And those who complete it get a snazzy patch. Good reasons to join up if you're interested!

I'm going to hike 100 miles of the North Country Trail in 2016. Since my home base is Michigan, I'll probably get most of those miles there. Jesse and I have a kayaking trip planned for the summer in Pictured Rocks, so we'll probably log 10 or 15 miles in the U.P. I'll probably knock off some stretches near Grand Rapids, too. And I'm headed up to New York State's north country for my 10 year college reunion at St. Lawrence University (#StLawrenceU), so we'll hit some of the NCT in New York while bagging a few peaks. It's going to be fun!

2) The #52HikeChallenge sponsored by REI

This challenge, sponsored by REI, doesn't come with a badge, but it does come with some street cred. I'm not much of a hashtag fan, but you can follow those who are completing the challenge by searching the #52HikeChallenge. Each hike is recorded as #hike1, #hike2, etc. Since I'm already doing all of this hiking for the first challenge, the 52 Hike Challenge is a handy way to help keep track.

And I'll do my best to record those Michigan hikes to help people find great places to hike in the lowlands!

 Here's hoping your 2016 hiking adventures are stellar!