With no snow on the ground, we decided on a Christmas Day hike up Black Mountain. It’s a short, five-and-a-half mile loop to 1,250 feet just six miles from home, and in all these years, we’d never hiked it. We’d always opted for higher mountains further from home with Leo, the dog. One of the reasons we’d ignored a hike so close by is that dogs aren’t allowed at the Black Mountain Natural Area. But Leo, now over ten, prefers to protecting the chickens and patrolling the fields at home.

A No-hike Year

It had been an unusual year for us: we hadn’t hiked at all. Too much rain, too much gardening, and two trips out west for family events. I’d hardly rowed due to high water and intense work, completing three revisions of a book between May and September.

I wasn’t getting enough exercise, even with hunting, so I rejoined the gym, both for strength training and cardio, but as I learned on this modest hike, working out at the gym isn’t the same hiking uphill through the woods.

The hike was harder than I expected, even without a backpack. “This is humbling,” I confessed.

Tim agreed. “We haven’t hiked in a long time.”

Harder Than the Gym

“This is so much harder than the treadmill or the elliptical,” I said. Those machines challenge me with speed and incline, and the cardio workout is good for my heart and my brain, but they do nothing, really, for balance or proprioception on a narrow, uneven trail covered in slippery, wet leaves.

As soon as I said this, I started hearing this post, which helped me realize another difference between working out and walking outdoors. In an effort to alleviate boredom on the treadmill, I listen to up-tempo music, which keeps me moving but crowds out the words in my head. The only time I wear earbuds outside is when I’m picking berries or weeding, and then, I listen to podcasts and news. When I’m moving by muscle outside, words and sentences bubble into my head. Sometimes the sentences form into paragraphs or whole essays. And sometimes, I receive a single word that improves the work-in-progress on my desk.

Some days, efficiency requires a trip to the gym, but without question, in 2024 I’m looking forward stepping back on the trails.

Aside from peace, justice, and democratic process, what are you looking forward to in 2024?