Climbing a mountain every week is certainly not a comfortable way to spend one of your two weekend days. It would be much more comfortable to take in a movie or go to the beach. Mountains are steep. The uneven terrain challenges your muscles.
The Season
My hiking season begins the first of March and ends either at the end of August or September. The reason it might end in August varies. By the end of the summer it has taken its toll on my body. Every weekend no matter the weather or how tired I might be the night before, I head up the trail. It isn’t easy doing it every week.
One Sunday morning I sat in the car listening to the rain pelt the hood and really not wanting to get out of that nice warm space. But then I remind myself of one of the reasons I do it. To feel younger!
Be Bold – Begin It
Goethe said, “Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius and magic in it.”
Once my feet are on the ground and I am heading up the trail I feel like a twenty year old. Someone said my breathing resembles a stove pipe. Maybe it is because of Asthma I suffered as a child. Every once in a while I will wheeze if I push myself particularly hard, but the noise makes me feel like I am a train chugging along. Maybe it is an old smoke belching train, but still powerful. It might even keep the bugs away.
Of course when the hike is finished I feel that surge of youth again. Like “magic.” I did it one more time. I am still vital and strong. It combats those thoughts that older people have telling them that they should act their age or that they shouldn’t be doing such and such at their age.
Yes, hiking makes me feel younger, but it also keeps me physically younger as well. So all you chronologically “older” people get out in nature while you still can and go hiking!
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