The Great Outdoors
 

I'm rather new so if I'm doing something wrong, let me know... ;)

I searched to try and find if there was already a group like this, but I didn't see one so here's my idea for a group/club thingy...

The Great Outdoors - for those like hiking, mountain biking, fishing, hunting, kayaking/canoeing, rock/mountain climbing, camping, orienteering, horseback riding, watersports, or heck, even just going to the local park for sports, running, walking, skating, whatever... if you like exercising outdoors or are exercising to prepare yourself for outdoorsy things, this is the place for you. :)

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An intro... My name's elise. I'm 23, married and mom to 3 little young'ins. I used to be a real outdoorsy person... I actually spent the majority of my young life outside hiking, fishing, learning about nature and getting a great workout in the process. But by the time I was 16 and a young mom, I found I couldn't get out as much as I used to... and the more time I spend inside, the more weight I gain.

I'm a born and raised Louisianian so my family is really into the outdoors, appreciating nature and all that you can learn from and do in it. So this year, my New Year's resolution is to get back to my 'roots' and get back outside. I know that sounds kind of silly considering I'm inside on the computer posting about it... but I need a lot of work before I can just jump back into hiking miles up and down hills and would like to lose quite a bit of weight before I go tubing again. :p

I thought this group would be a great source of support and information for those of us who want to get out and start some new adventures.

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If you have any resources, advice or questions to share, please post them. To get this group off to a running start, I'm going to make a mini website for any links, articles, resources that could be archived for everyone's convenience. I'll edit this post and put the url here so check back later. ;) If you have any input on that (ie: what you want on the group's website), let me know. ;)

Can't wait to meet any other outdoorswomen or those interested in becoming one... :carrot:

Great idea! I'm enjoying being back in the outdoors, and looking forward to more adventures -- one of my long term goals is to hike the John Muir Trail in California (probably summer 2007).

For New Year's Day, I took a cross-country ski lesson & really enjoyed it. I used to love to downhill ski (when I was around 220-230#), but I hadn't skiied in > 10 years. I got lucky and essentially got a private lesson because no one else showed up that a.m. for a beginner class (wonder why? :)). I was pleased at how well I did -- and sore for 3-4 days afterwards! :) But, I had a good time being out in the woods, and in fact, I'm planning on going back this weekend.

I also like scuba diving and snorkeling, although not in cold water :), so I have to wait for vacation to do that :).

Hi elmay! It's great to meet you! :)

My short term goal is to complete the Tunica Hills/CLark Creek trail on the La/Ms border. And my long term... I guess to complete all the trails at the Smoky Mountains National Park. (Then find anothe rpark with more trails, lol.)

Me, my husband, my best friend/cousin and my brother-in-law/cousin's boyfriend ;) are taking a spur of the moment trip to Tennessee so that my hubby can take a short vacation and my cousin can see snow. My husband, Tim, wants to go on all kinds of trails... but we decided we'd start with 1 that was rated strenuous (Chimney Tops Trail), then do one moderate and one easy (which we haven't decided on yet. I honestly don't think I'll make it through the strenuous one just yet...

When you go hiking, is it usually day hikes or do you go backpacking?

I've always wanted to try skiing. We have a chance to this trip, but I don't know if the whole group would go for it. They even have snowboarding lessons. I've heard it's really hard to do either one, but I'd at least like to give it a try. There aren't alot of opportunities for snow sports in Louisiana, so I have to wait until we go somewhere with snow and I'm just hoping we'll go often enough to actually become good at skiing and snowboarding. ;)

I've always wanted to try scuba diving too. It's on my list of rewards to give myself once I get in shape. ;) Are there any places you recommend?

I'm in
 

This sounds like a great forum for me. I do almost all my exercise outside and dread going to the gym because I know I don't work out as hard or as long as I do when I go for hikes or snowshoe. The winter has been mild here, so I haven't gotten in nearly as many snowshoe trips as I hoped. I have found Audobon wildlife santuaries to be great for breaking up the routine. They have maps and usually have varied terrain and you can walk for an hour or so in a lovely location with no traffic. I'm doing a personal challenge during the olympics, hoping to get in a rugged, extended hike by the closing ceremonies.

Hi aqueduct! Nice to meet you. :) I know what you mean about the gym vs. outdoors... I find myself slacking off so much when working indoors, but I really push myself and enjoys the results more when outdoors. Not only am I working my butt off but I get to see so much.

I got back from my vacation last week and it was awesome. We went hiking in the Smoky mountains in TN. Instead of doing one hard and some easy ones like we originally planned, my hubby managed to con us into doing 2 incredibly strenuous hikes. We hiked the Alum Cave Bluffs trail ( http://www.smokiesguide.com/hikes/alum_cave/ ) and Chimney Tops ( http://www.smokiesguide.com/hikes/chimneytops/ ). And even though I had to take a million breaks (to stretch and get my used to below sea level lungs use to high altitudes) it was so worth the soreness and all the hard work when we got to the top of the two different trails.

Alum Cave Bluffs was gorgeous with the little footbridges over the streams and the cool rock formations. And for the first time I got to see icecicles. :) We ate lunch sitting on top of a 'bald', a big rock sticking out from the top of the mountain, overlooking the other mountains and the valley. Then we went up even higher to the bluff. Huge chunks of ice were falling off onto the trail where we were just standing. It scared the mess out of me. :P But it was awesome. You have to see the pictures: http://photobucket.com/albums/e144/i...kle/Tennessee/ (I'm not in any of them, since I was taking the pictures...)

We went to the Cumberland Gap, too. We hiked some small trails, went to the Pinnacle Overlook (check out the pictures ^) and took a flashlight guided tour of the Gap Cave.

I still have to scan the Chimney Tops pictures... my gosh, was that a hard trail. But it actually takes you to the top and end of one of the mountains. It's amazing.

My husband is going back for a "boy's trip" with his brother, dad and our 6yo son. ;) And us girls are planning our next trip, too. ;) Maybe... Colorado? I hear they have some great hiking there!

Another unexpected side effect with all this hiking is my fascination with the wildlife. I've always had it... but now I'm just more inclined to act on it. (Not like touching the animals or anything.) ;) I've learned about birding, and my aunt is letting me borrow some binoculars and her field guide. I'm also looking into buying a camera for wildlife photography. So now I have even more reasons to get up and out. :) I can't wait.

I'm definitely going to check out the local wildlife sactuaries. Great advice. :) And good luck on your Olympic hike! ;)

Hello!

What a great idea for a thread! I grew up here in Colorado, more specifically in a mountain town where the outdoors mean everything (overboard sometimes!). I grew up rafting, camping and hiking mainly. I never got around to kyaking (I thought I was too big for the boat!), but I intend to get around to that this summer. Denver has a great on-river water park (Confluence park), so getting on-th-river experience shouldn't be too hard. I hiked my first 14-er last summer (Gray's peak) and would like to get #2, 3, and 4 out of the way this summer. Will I get to 54? We'll see. Anyway, my first official hike of the season will ba Hanging Lake over Memorial Day weekend. It's a very popular hike about 5 miles from my hometown, Glenwood Springs in a canyon. It's about 1.5 miles, which doesn't sound too bad, but it's straight up! Once you get to the top there is this emerald lake that is so spectacular that you don't even really know exactly where the water source comes from. It just kind of hangs off the canyon. I haven't done it since I was in high school, so we'll see how it goes. Here are some pics.
http://www.wiu.edu/users/mfbhl/hanging-lake.htm

If you guys are coming out to colorado to get your outdoors "on", let me know! There's a wealth of sites out there.