Hiking

Have you ever had a moment when you have a goal you wanted to keep, and you think it sounds easy or awesome, but once the moment gets there it's in actuality a horrible idea, but you keep doing it anyway? Well this summer my mom, sister and I decided to go hiking every week of summer break. I thought at first, this will be fun, I haven't gone hiking since last summer and I remember liking it so this will be a great thing to do. Once I went on the first hike however, my mind switched gears about hiking. I absolutely hate it. Here is my pros and cons list... or in this case cons and pros list. (Once you go to college all you can think about is pros and cons to any situation... it's kind of a curse.)

Cons of hiking for me: 

-My mom and I are the only ones that go every week with a group of women from a nearby church. We  wake up at 8 to be ready by 9:15 to meet at a house and get on our way to a hiking trail. Krista somehow has been able to get out of every hike except two, which I think is a little unfair.
-Every single hike is either going straight up or feels like it's going straight up. Almost none of the hikes have a leveling off area where you can take a break. I'm not even kidding when I say I either get heat exhaustion, pass out, or feel like throwing up every time I go hiking.
-After going hiking in the morning all I want to do is take a shower and sleep the rest of the day when I get back home. So the day is basically wasted, and I end up having a headache for some reason.
-I get blisters and dirt all over my feet even though I have shoes and socks on... not to mention how sweaty you get throughout the whole hike.
-My hands swell when I'm hiking for some reason, I have no idea why... maybe I'm allergic to hiking?
-Once you go up you have to come down... which usually gives me a cramp in my side.

Pros of hiking:

-You feel good about yourself for climbing up and down a mountain every week. I mean seriously you feel like a superhuman.
-If you are on a diet you can get away with eating more food when you hike, because you burn 1000 calories and up every time you go. Party!
-You get gorgeous views from hiking up a mountain. If you bring your phone you can take pictures and post them to Instagram with the label #nofilter on it. They also make great cover photos for your Facebook (;
-If you want, you can get a camelback and wear/drink out of it on hikes. I have always thought was cool to do because you feel like an adventurer, or someone really awesome like Indiana Jones, The Librarian, Virginia Lewis, Russell or... someone like that.
-Sometimes you see wildlife, like a real life Bambi (which I did see last week drinking from a small waterfall) and sometimes you hike to waterfalls which is a nice relaxing spot to cool down.

Even though I hate hiking as much as I do I'm glad I go, because I'm proving to myself I can do anything I set my mind to. Once this is all over, I can say I have completed a goal, going through with it until the end. That very idea is what makes me keep hiking every Tuesday when I want to give up so badly, when I could easily turn around and wait in the car, I don't because I know it will all be worth it in the end to say, "I did it."

So far I've hiked everyday of June and now one week in July. "Sadly" I won't be able to hike every week of July because my mom, sister and I are going to Texas for about two-three weeks starting on the 21st. So I have only two weeks left of hiking until I can stop and be proud of myself for completing my goal, and man will it feel good (:

Leanna

 PG Falls Hike

 Timponogos Caves

Horsetail Falls (hardest hike of them all)

Julie Andrews Hike

Scout Falls Hike