Moderate level hikers at Lonely Dell Ranch near Page, Ariz., during this year’s special hike (photo by Warren Wasescha)
Warren Wasescha, Sun Lakes Hiking Club
By the numbers, we did a lot of hiking this season. Collectively 150 active hikers hiked a total of 6,500 miles, 20% more miles than last year. Total AEG (average elevation gain climbed) totaled over 900,000 feet, or about 170 miles straight up into the sky, almost the equivalent of climbing to the Space Station. If you add up all the days each club member hiked this season and lined them up over the course of the calendar, it would span over 3 years of hiking. It’s been a good year for hiking!
The club offered over 100 hikes this season, led by 32 hike leaders, including four new hike leaders this year—Pauline Boyd, Vaughn Hale, Joe Milne, and Steve Geislinger. We love our volunteer hike leaders, They make our club hikes possible. Mike Josephson led the most mellow hikes this year. Marilyn Hawkins, Ed Moliere, and Ted Maresh tied three ways for leading the most motivated hikes. Henry Silberblatt, Diane Alessi, and Warren Wasescha led the most moderate hikes this year.
This year eight hikers completed 20 or more hikes—Ed Molieri, Paul Feeney, Paul Engel, Kathy Hall, Henry Silberblatt, Diane Alessi, Fritz Neufield, and Warren Wasescha. Ed led the pack with 31 hikes, followed closely by Paul Engel and Warren Wasescha with 29 hikes each.
Our end-of-season picnic gave special shoutouts to all those club members that have made our club fun and run as smoothly as it does. Al and Ginny Metz won the Lifetime Achievement Award for their many years of extensive service to the club. Ed Molieri won the Most Prolific Hiker Award. Ron Deraas won the Snake Award for his sighting of the first snake of the season. And this year the annual sunshine Award recognized Pauline Boyd for her sunny influence on all her hikes.
Scott Downey received the prestigious boot award for going the extra mile in many ways, including simplifying the sign-up sheet process we use for all club hikes.
Ron Deraas and Joan Carlisle were recognized for their tireless effort of planning the special hike, as well as all the leaders that pulled together this year’s special hike hikes.
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 welcoming all able-bodied hikers. Our goal is to make group hiking fun, challenging, social, and safe. We hike formally from November through April, and informally throughout the summer months.
For more information about our club, please type “Sun Lakes Hiking Club” into your web browser and look for our Meetup page. Questions about the club not answered on our website? Please let me know at wjwasescha@gmail.com.
Hiking is one of the many rewarding activities you can do in our community. We look forward to hiking with you!