My husband and I enjoy hiking. More accurately, we enjoy the scenery of a wooded trail. Most of our family vacations include one or more hiking excursions. Generally, we take the easy trails with no mountain climbing or where special equipment is required. We aren’t much for beaches. Mountains and woods are our style. We’ve hit state and national parks across the country. Unfortunately, our bodies are just not what they used to be. We have bad backs and knees and plantar fasciitis. So how do we enjoy our vacations with these growing limitations?
- Make the children carry the backpack. You carried their things for years. Now it’s their turn. If they don’t want to, talk about the weight of a diaper bag until they finally give in for fear of never getting started.
- Park really close to the best spots. There are no prizes for the longest way to get there. You don’t have to prove yourself to the iPhone generation. Actually, they are probably inside anyway. It’s the millennials you’ll bump into on the trail. Just smile and wave, their day will come soon enough.
- Make your own fun. This past vacation, my husband needed to stop and wait for us to return from our slightly longer hike. He made the most of that time by playing audio clips of mountain lions to freak us out. If you can’t join em’, terrify them.
- Take lots of pictures. More pictures gives the illusion of a longer hike. Honestly, if you’ve seen one wooded trail, you’ve seen them all. You can take 20 pictures in 10 feet of trail: a cute mushroom, a fallen tree, a big boulder, ferns, and some moss. Done!
- Eat lunch on the trail. Sure you only walked 15 minutes, but if you stop and eat lunch and then walk back, you can stretch it out into an hour hike. Skip a few pebbles in a stream while you’re at it. You can really drag this thing out.
- Scenic drives are like hiking, but with less work. Try driving a scenic route and then “hiking” a few minutes from each stop. If your back can handle getting in and out of your car, you just might be able to see a whole lot of what you wanted to see but without the painful walking part.
- Plan your energy expenditure. Our last trip, my husband and I climbed to the top of the lookout monument (291 steps they told us.) We did this first. That pretty much killed all plans of hiking for the rest of the week. Climbing up a tower is not hiking, but it was a nice trip. Next time we go, we’re skipping the tower and going with the trail.
- Bring painkillers. Sometimes we preemptively medicate with some nice ibuprofen. We carry more with us for the end. This time, because I was actively in physical therapy for my last back episode, I brought the good stuff. (Note: I wasn’t driving, so it would have been safe for me to take.)
- Bring a book. Much of the joy of the hike is being in nature. Find a quiet place with a bench or a large rock and read. Try a sketch book. Maybe you just sit and listen to the birds and crickets. Let the kids go further on and then come back for you. Just make sure you have the car keys so they don’t abandon you.
- Complain bitterly over the next few days. If you wince in pain each time you try to stand up or sit down, walk down steps, or move quickly, other people will know that you really gave it your all. Feel the burn of accomplishment! Make sure your kids have a good idea of what their future holds for them.
Happy Hiking!
