Hiking
This year, one thing that has had a real positive impact on me is hiking. I think that hiking has helped a lot of people release some of the stress and uncertainty of the state of things right now.
One of my goals for next year is to go on more long-distance hikes. While researching possible hikes, I decided to create a small website to help me. Sharing it here in case it's useful for anybody else:
I'll be adding to it as I continue with my research. If anybody has any hikes they'd like to see on there, please let me know :) thanks
I love this! Did the GR20 two years ago and the year before that the 'Tra Mare e Monti Nord' and last year the Dolomites. And Portugal has this one, which is amazing! https://rotavicentina.com/en/
I am always looking for hikes and do a long trek every year alone. Which I am really missing this year.
Is there a way I can sign up somewhere?
Personally, my hikes are getting more intense. Love to go to more isolated places and do wild camping. For me, the problem is that I don't know much people who really like the adventure to go to the unknown. Maybe this could be a hook for you?
Also, there is this "rites of passage" which I read about and could be interested in.
Thank you! Those hikes must have been awesome, I'm jealous!
I've only done a couple of long-distance hikes in the UK - the South Downs Way and part of the Offas Dyke. This year I was really hoping to walk the Kungsleden but didn't want to risk cancellations which really sucked. Hoping to do it next year if things have chilled out a bit. I'm still a noob but feeling really passionate about it :)
I don't have anywhere to sign up just yet because there isn't much you can do on the website. If you DM your email address, I can let you know when something like that is available if you like.
Thanks again for checking it out!
The hikes you mentioned, I am not even aware of and pretty new (5 years) into hiking myself. So, super happy to see a new website to get inspiration.
One of the nice things for me is preparing a hike. I go through all the web and find trail, prep gear, buy new gear, weight, etc. I would love to see a community for less experienced hikers who could join more experienced once and make friendships. Cooking food together or sitting in a hut somewhere creates bonds and I haven't found a platform that resonates this. Also, sharing drone footage is something I have been thinking of myself...
For example, if you do the GR20 there is only one crappy forum. But, you get all the information and it should be like this. It can be dangerous. But it is old and broken and hard to search. Maybe a new hiking community could be very cool and worth a try.
Keep it up!
I completely agree - I would love to be part of a community that is geared toward less experienced hikers. I actually wanted to ask you if you were part of any and where you get your information from. I don't really have anybody to talk to hiking about in my everyday life so I end up watching a lot of youtube videos and getting my information from there.
I know that there are forums on reddit but I haven't really gotten into them much. I guess I find it a little intimidating because they seem to be full of seemingly very experienced hikers.
How would you feel about joining a slack channel for this? Even just having a place to share the excitement of upcoming hikes would be great for me, and maybe it will lead to us creating the tools and resources that we ourselves need.
All valid points to start a community around this! The only thing that comes to mind, is that I would only be active on a community slack channel when I am planning to start a new hike. I wonder if it is a place I would be active when I am not planning anything.
Maybe a slack channel isn't the best medium? What about a forum, something like discourse? I would definitely sign up for a newsletter just to be in the loop and reach out once I am actively searching for ideas and planning the hike.
With the forum, you could create threads based on the different hikes you already got listed on your website. Might be something?