good-bye 2020 hello 2021 HAPPY NEW YEAR

Good-Bye 2020

When the going gets tough, the tough get going! Somewhere! Anywhere! Wherever!  With no intentional plans for this to occur this year, it happened, urban hiking skyrocketed!  I got up close and personal with many of our city and provincial parks, discovering numerous nooks and crannies.  I am grateful I had these places to escape to.  For a few weeks during those darkest days, Nose Hill & Nose Creek became my second home and I swear I could find my way around both places if I were blindfolded and it was night.  In the totals listed below for 2020, 734 kms of those are urban hiking.  The totals in the chart include hiking (both mountain & urban) and snowshoeing.        

Hello 2021

While venturing along in 2020, I realized I purposely spent time in search of forests to find my way through.  The trees were providing me with something I was deprived of these months, hugs!  Hiking along a narrow tree lined trail felt like a warm, comforting, big bear hug! I felt soothed & safe!  I know there is much reported lately about the benefits of being in forests and I finally felt what those in the know were talking about. These trees are a part of my new chart.  I have mixed feelings right now on how I want 2021 to play out for me.  I am leaning towards not chasing distance and gain but rather looking for experiences which I am not even sure I know what I mean by that!  Even though, I still prepared a chart to keep track of what ground I do cover.  I am not sure where I want to get to in 2021 but when I sort out where that is, "I'll get there one way or another"! 

Happy New Year!

Each one of us faced our own kind of mountains to climb in 2020.  The path we wanted to follow looked dark making it a challenge to find our way.  Some of us felt lost, some felt alone.  We reached out to family and friends, at times going solo, in search of brightness to bring to each day.  With 2021 right before us, let's enter the new year with hope, faith and trust for brighter days ahead.  I hope the mountains that you face in 2021 are those of your choosing and the journey up them bring you peace, joy and happiness.   

My wish for you for this New Year is a vocabulary

full of color and cheer!