Sunday Hikes

As most of you know, my husband Duncan and I live in downtown San Francisco. I love where we live. I love everything about our neighborhood anchored by AT&T Park (GO GIANTS!). I love our 550-square-foot apartment. I love walking everywhere and never driving. I love the ba-zillion restaurants and bars and hangouts (ah, the food!). I love living on a hunk of land bounded on three sides by water (serious views everywhere!). I love the bridges, the cable cars, the architecture. It's beautiful. It's liberating. It's convenient. It's exciting...

...but at times, it's restrictive. It's loud. It's smelly. It's crowded. Sometimes I feel like, I just need to see some freakin' grass or a grove of trees or smell something that doesn’t have a note of human waste or someone smoking a joint (seriously...it's one of those two smells 75% of the time)!

We both walk to work - Duncan 10 minutes and me 25 minutes from our apartment. Monday through Friday, we literally never leave an area of 1-square mile...sometimes we don't even get that far. Don’t get me wrong! That 1-squre mile is jam packed with everything you could ever need. That 1-square mile is absolutely awesome. There is no reason to leave, except that just maybe…just every once in a while…you probably should (for your sanity, people).  

Soooooo…to cope with our endless urban existence, we started a tradition of "Sunday Hikes". Every Sunday (if we are in town or are free of inflexible plans) we go hiking (no questions, no excuses!)! 

Not only does the hiking give us a nice break from all the “hustle and bustle”, it’s a killer workout (this ain’t just walking, my friends). You’re climbing up, you're sliding down, you’re stabilizing yourself on uneven surfaces. It can be a tough mental and physical challenge (more like sucking wind, sweating like a beast). You want to know the best part? When you set out on a 7-mile hike and you’re 3.5 miles in…you can’t quit (overcoming mental weakness by force, I’m a fan!)! No matter how much you want to, this is no treadmill you can switch off…you gotta get back to the car and there is no choice other than hoofing your little butt back there one tired step at a time.

Here are a few of our recent hikes:

April 12, 2015 – San Bruno State Park, San Bruno, CA – Summit Loop Trail

3.5 miles – 8,023 steps – 8 Activity Points

April 19, 2015 – Point Reyes National Seashore, Bolinas, CA – Coastal Trail to Alamere Falls

9.5 miles – 21,565 steps – 22 Activity Points

April 26, 2015 – Land’s End, San Francisco, CA – Land’s End Coastal Trail

5.1 miles – 11,691 steps – 12 Activity Points

May 10, 2015 – Portola Redwoods State Park, La Honda, CA – Iverson/Old Haul Road Trail

8.5 miles – 19,486 steps – 18 Activity Points

We really love this little tradition of ours and I encourage you to try it! You'd be amazed at how capable you are and how much beauty there is to see not far from your home.