I heard a lot of good reports from last week’s 7 mile Hawaiian hike! My personal commentary about walking over 36 miles last week is at the end of this post…meanwhile, I invite you to join me for this week’s visit to California, one of the many I have planned to the Muir Wilderness – a trip we can, in fact, only take online due to recent natural events.
We are hiking a version of the Cottonwood Lakes Trail this week – a 16.1 mile version.
Will you finish this one in a single day? Probably not. Can you finish it over the course of a week? Definitely, with just about 30 minutes of daily effort. (Can you challenge yourself to cover it in just two days? Maybe!)
Cottonwood Lakes Loop starts from Horseshoe Meadow and travels from the Golden Trout Wilderness into John Muir Wilderness. The trip begins on a mostly sandy trail leading you North into the Golden trout Wilderness. Pass over the log bridge or rock hop, and proceed on the flat trail skirting a meadow that holds Cottonwood Creek. Head up the trail across a well made log bridge, rock hop one more creek and come to a junction. (all trail info linked above)
Can’t you just hear the chattering creek? Are you ready to cross that log bridge?
I adored the nature when I lived in California, and I can’t wait to go back and visit again. For now, I’ll appreciate the beauty of this hike with you and enjoy not turning my ankle on scree (check out the photos linked below for the summit approaches…makes virtual hiking not seem quiiiite so bad).
Need more inspiration to get moving on your hike? Check out more photos of this trail here, get yourself a free trial of Audible to have some audiobooks to keep you company, or even walk inside with one of these walking videos* or with this actual footage from this hike.
Where do you want to go next?! We are going to the mountains, beaches, and lakes of the world, and I am SO ready for this change of scenery. I hope you’ll join me on your journey!
Oh, and when you’re done with your journey for the week, post a pic of your accomplishment and tag me! (Tiny Fitness on Facebook, @tinyfitnesshtx on Instagram.) There will be prizes along the way! Bad photoshop is welcome! We are going to have quite the scrapbook by the end of the year.
Make sure you’re following the blog via email or social media so you don’t miss a weekly hike! Next week we are headed to somewhere green with plenty of sheep….
*and if you think walking videos are lame, so is being totally out of cardio shape! Walking videos are a great way to combat the it’s too hot/cold/dark/late/early excuse. I myself have used them when the weather was inconvenient and I needed to move, like during Harvey, or when I need a buddy to get me moving first thing in the morning but I’m too asleep to do anything more complicated than shuffle.
Now, what was that at the start about 36 miles? I made a choice to be more conscious about tracking my activity outside of teaching cardio classes (I don’t normally keep my phone on me enough for its step counter to be worthwhile, but I made the switch on Jan 1), and when I started I had no idea if I was walking a mile or 10 miles during my dog walks and other daily activity. Turns out, I was so close to my goal of 5 miles a day that I upped my goal to 6 and I’ve hit it for 9 straight days.
I want to talk about it more in detail outside of this hiking post, but here’s what I can tell you so far:
- It takes me about 90-120 minutes of my day to hit my goal; most, but not all, of that is deliberate activity time, and my pace is usually dictated by my four-legged pal
- I have more energy
- I’m sleeping better
- I have had to do indoor substitutes to hit my goal when it’s too dark/cold/busy for me to go outside (I hit my goal today, disincluding bootcamp activity even, despite working 9 hours)
- YOU can hit the same goal if you were to simply:
- walk around your home for 10-30 minutes before work (you can stay in your pajamas, nbd)
- walk at lunch for 30-45 minutes OR take 2 15-minute walk breaks during your workday if you work through lunch
- and walk (even if it’s with a video) for 30-45 minutes after dinner. Walking around your living room while you watch TV counts. (A Zumba class with me gives you a minimum of 6000 steps if you stay roughly with me for at least 75% of the class, or a little more than 3 miles of activity.)
Walking isn’t necessarily going to get you ripped, but it’s pretty darn great for you – we can talk more about its benefits next week, or you can tell me your favorite benefit in a comment.
