Hiking in the New Year!

Warren Wasescha

December went fast, and it’s hard to believe we are already into our third month of hiking this season. If you missed our December club meeting, it was a good one. The room was packed and the topics salient. We heard from Paul Feeney that our March Special Hike will be in the Sierra Vista area, about 75 miles southeast of Tucson. The response was great, and we’ll hear more details soon from the planning team who has worked long and hard on making this another fun trip. These three-day Special Hikes have become a signature event for our club and are a great way to deepen friendships made in the club.

We also had a great presentation during the December club meeting from Dr. Peter Sutton from Abundant Health Chiropractic. He shared tips on how to prevent injury on the trail, as well as some great stretching exercises to do after your hike when your muscles have warmed up and are more conducive to responding to the stretches. If you missed the meeting, ask someone on your next hike what their favorite stretching exercises are. Everyone in the room seemed to have a good time trying a few of Dr. Sutton’s favorite stretches. Watch Meetup for details on our next special presentation at the January club meeting, and come have fun!

Like the idea of hiking socially? Join our club and enjoy all that we have to offer. We are a friendly, inclusive group of hikers who welcome all able-bodied hikers. Our goal is to make group hiking fun, challenging, social, and safe. We hike Mondays at three different intensity levels and often a second “mellow” or “moderate” hike on Wednesdays. Our club is open to anyone living in Sun Lakes and SunBird. Annual dues are still only $5. Best bargain around!

Motivated hikes are rigorous and usually 7 to 10 miles in length, with elevation gains in the 1,000 to 2,000-plus range. Moderate hikes are less strenuous and are in the 5- to 7-mile range, with up to 1,000 elevation gain. Mellow hikes are led at a leisurely pace and are usually up to 5 miles and 500 elevation gain and often includes a lunch afterwards to socialize.

For more information about our club, please type in “Sun Lakes Hiking Club” into your web browser and look for our Meet-up page. You’ll find information about our club, along with photos and descriptions of past and future hikes. If there are questions you have that are not answered on our website, please contact our president Ted Maresh at [email protected] and he can help you.

Hiking is one of the many rewarding activities you can do in our community. We look forward to hiking with you this season!