John Muir, the famous naturalist and hiker, didn’t worry about the difference between walking and hiking when he said,“I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out until sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.”

Wednesday, December 31, 2014

photo credit: D. Gallo
Location: Highland Recreation, MI

Hiked with: Darby

Route/trail: Haven Hill Lake

Weather: 18 degrees and windy

Duration: 1 mile, 16 minutes (that's all we could take!)

Altitudes/elevations/conditions: elevation 300 ft. gaining only 20 ft. the entire time

Sightings: frozen lake


Emotions, etc: the cold caused us to run part of the way which in the end 
felt exhilarating and so much better than all of the hotel treadmills I've been walking the past week

Sunday, December 14, 2014


Location: Highland Recreation Area, Highland, MI

Hiked with: Gary and Darby

Route/trail: Haven Hill trail

Weather: 43 degrees, grey

Duration: 55 min. 2.33 miles

Altitudes/elevations/conditions: small elevation changes, patches of mud on the trails

Sightings: a hawk and the barn that was at one time the largest east of the Mississippi river. It was from Edsel Ford's farm that used to be on this property.


Emotions, etc: thankful for Sabbath

Sunday, December 7, 2014


Location: Mill Race Park, Village of Commerce Township, MI

Hiked with: myself

Route/trail: the one trail through the park and some of the neighborhood streets behind it

Weather: overcast, 30 degrees, breezy

Duration: 45 min., 2.18 miles

Altitudes/elevations/conditions: very wooded, fairly flat, creek running through it that is a diversion of the Huron River created for the roller mill that used to be on this site in the early 1900's

Sightings: didn't see the ducks in the creek and they obviously didn't see me. My heart skipping a beat reflected their surprise departure when I was practically standing atop them.

Gear/food: note to self--need warmer gloves


Emotions, etc: despite the cold, it felt so good to be outside. The range of sounds coming from the moving water was captivating.

Sunday, November 30, 2014

Thanksgiving Day Hike


Location: Highland Recreation Area, MI
Hiked with: Gary, Ian and the Barbour family
Route/trail: Teeple Lake
Weather: 30 degrees, overcast, flurries
Duration: 1.5 hours, 4ish miles
Altitudes/elevations/conditions: up and down gentle hills over frozen ground 
Sightings: snow!

Emotions, etc: First, thinking that if God had intended for us to rake leaves that this would be a monstrous job on these trails. Secondly, thankful for our children introducing us to new friends that we can spend this Thanksgiving holiday with. Lastly, glad to have a dog along. Abby the labby would have loved this type of hike.

Thursday, November 20, 2014

Location: my driveway

Hiked with: myself and a snow shovel

Route/trail: up and down, back and forth, and an occasional round and round to break the monotony

Weather: 25 degrees, light snow and wind

Altitudes/elevations/conditions: one steep part of the driveway caught me off guard and I fell (gracefully of course-haha) to my hands and knees. That's humbling!

Sightings: many animal tracks in the yard


Emotions, etc:I actually like shoveling and find it refreshing to be outside on a winter day. We'll see if this is still the 'emotion' if we're shoveling through until spring :) In a week that I could take a longer hike this activity is a good compromise.

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Location: trail behind Lakeland High School

Hiked with: myself

Route/trail: the only one that was marked...I wonder if it's for gym classes or the cross country team

Weather: 52 degrees but overcast as a sign of the cold front that's headed our way

Duration: under an hour...forgot to set Map My Walk to get accurate stats

Altitudes/elevations/conditions: mostly flat worn down grass path

Sightings: just the happy sounds of children on the elementary school playground


Emotions, etc: trying to be content that this short, fast walk (other than what I do in my 
neighborhood) would be the longest I'd probably have in this busy week

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Location: trails behind Highland Public Library

Hiked with: myself

Route/trail: the initial trail surprisingly (actually disappointingly) led to a neighborhood. After walking the neighborhood I found more trails that seemed to be for ATV's. Last landmark was Downey Lake.

Weather: 48 degrees and partly cloudy

Duration: 2.94 miles in 50 minutes

Altitudes/elevations/conditions: little elevation changes with sandy trails that made walking slow at times but it was probably a better workout for my legs

Sightings: a woman putting up Christmas decorations (it's too early for that!) and a dog that walked with me for a little bit (this was delightful but made me miss my Abby the labby)

Gear/food: water


Emotions, etc: Thoroughly enjoying exploring this new area we live in!

Monday, November 3, 2014

Location: Cromwell Valley Park, Towson, MD

Hiked with: my husband, son and sister's family

Route/trail: Sherwood Farm Trail, Willow Grove Trail 

Weather: low 60's and sunny. I beautiful East coast autumn day.

Duration: 2.74 miles in 1 hour...not the fastest or furthest but it was clearly fun

Altitudes/elevations/conditions: up and down a hillside through the woods, along a ravine and a stream 

Sightings: the people we had to ask for directions to get down from the pinnacle after we made the wrong turn!

Emotions, etc: happy to be outside and happy to be family and I'm not sure if we ever concluded that this was a stroll, walk, or hike...we'll have to go at it again!

Saturday, October 25, 2014

Location: Pontaic Recreation Area

Hiked with: my husband

Route/trail: 29-33 kinda because we took some twists and turns out of curiosity

Weather: sunny, cool but lovely

Duration: 3.70 miles, 1 hr. 17 min.

Altitudes/elevations/conditions: hilly (surprisingly for MI), some trails rocky which slowed us down but wasn't bothersome

Sightings: A fair amount of bittersweet which I love and don't' see very often

Gear/food: water

Emotions, etc: I knew there was a large lake in this area but where the trail ended was on the shore and when we came off the trail-head I was overwhelmed to see the sand beach....this is only 15 min. from home and it will be fun to enjoy when the weather is warmer!

Friday, October 24, 2014

Location: Dodge Park #5, Commerce, MI, It's interesting to note that the Dodge family donated money for many parks in the area therefore the #5 to indicate which one this was.

Hiked with: myself

Route/trail: meandered on most of the park's trails

Weather: 57 degrees and partly cloudy

Duration: 3.02 mi in 55 minutes

Altitudes/elevations/conditions: flat terrain through the woods, many fallen leaves made it tricky to see the lumps and bumps on the path so I probably didn't walk as fast as I should

Sightings: a black squirrel

Gear/food: water

Emotions, etc: part of the trail is near a shooting range which was being used today. I had to work hard not to let the sound of gun shots ruin my time outside

Friday, October 17, 2014


Location: Highland State Recreation Area, Highland, MI

Hiked with: Ian Gallo

Route/trail: started and ended at Teeple Lake

Weather: overcast, 60 degrees

Duration: 5.44 miles, 1 hr. 43 min with a bit of time to stop and just observe our surroundings

Altitudes/elevations/conditions: slight elevations, this is the area of the park that has some hills. Path was fairly damp and muddy in places from this week's rain.

Sightings: cranes, evidence of an old mine, flocks of birds (migrating?)

Gear/food: kept it simple, just water

Emotions, etc: A great way to start the day! Felt the do to list slip out of my mind pretty quickly.

Thursday, October 16, 2014

Why This Blog?

I spent my 50th year thinking, reflecting, and pondering my life and purpose. A small revelation and resolution  was how much a liked hiking and that I should do more of it. I am hopeful of at least one hike a week in this next year and this blog will help keep me accountable. It's that simple.