Jennifer’s Adventures in Pandemic Hiking
As I said in my earlier post, my friend Jennifer is a big inspiration for the structured self-accountability behind this blog. Jennifer aims to complete 52 hikes each year, I made a goal of paddling in each of the months of 2022. The idea is to have a goal that can help motivate you to get out and do your adventure, which is something I’m finding I need more and more.
I met Jennifer through our work in museums, running into her at Conferences across the US starting in 2017 when I was an MCN scholar in Pittsburgh. Jennifer is a big name in the museum tech conference world, and a bigger name in the conference karaoke circuit! We’ve talked museums and sung Oasis together in Pittsburgh, Denver, Austin and New Orleans. I was always excited to see her smiling face and learn from her experience in the field at these events, but I didn’t realize she would inspire me in adventure until we became friends on Facebook during the pandemic.
Jennifer and I, always excited to see fellow adventurers at conferences around the US! Obviously it’s been a while, and will be harder to do with me leaving the sector, but I wonder if we can plan a karaoke hike someday soon…
Jennifer is a hiker but aiming for that hike-per-week pace while living in a big city in New York State and doing all the amazing work she did with museums was difficult. She told me it was always close if she’d make it to 52 when the closest good trail was a three-hour drive away. She didn’t make it to 52 in 2020. Not only did the pandemic fears of those first months make stopping for gas seem reckless, later as the world settled into the normalized drag of masked-up life the motivation wasn’t there to make the big trip.
2021 was a different story – to the tune of 120 hikes! What changed? Jennifer and her partner moved to New Mexico, a place of astounding natural beauty (or so her photos show) with trails to 10,000-foot peaks just 15 minutes from her door! Even with Omicron taking the world back to lockdowns and a renewed fear of infection, Jennifer can get out on daily short hikes as a not-bad-at-all substitute for the gym.
Jennifer told me one of her best adventures in 2021 was hiking Quandary Peak in Colorado. Colorado’s famous peaks are the “Fourtneers,” peaks with 14,000-foot elevation, and while Quandary may be one of the easier 14K peaks with a good trail, the elevation gain for someone who had always lived within 600 feet of sea level was a lot. I’ve driven up Pike’s Peak, another Fourtneener, and felt like I’d fall over at the top.
Jennifer and her partner celebrating reaching the summit of Quandary Peak in Colorado. Crossing a “Fourtneerer” off the list leads to some pretty epic views!
“Almost a year in I'm starting to feel more acclimated, but I definitely find high elevation hiking a challenge. This particular hike was an amazing experience, not only because the views were unreal, and there were mountain goats roaming around, and we had perfect weather, but because I wasn't entirely sure if I'd make it to the top.”
The reason for the uncertainty? Experience with altitude sickness.
“A few years ago we went on a weeklong Salkantay trek in Peru. Truly one of the best trips I've ever been on. But on the second day we topped out at a bit over 14K feet, had lunch and set up camp, and I started to really struggle with altitude sickness. I couldn't keep anything down, dizzy-- classic symptoms. I wasn't able to eat more than some crackers each day for four days as we gradually made our way back down to lower elevation. With this in mind, I really wasn't sure if I was going to be able to complete the hike, so knowing that I'd be pushing to the edge of a boundary I'd experienced before made it a memorable adventure-- and would have even if I hadn't been able to make it to the top. Getting to the top and having the payoff of the views was an added bonus.”
Jennifer’s Halloween camping spot in the Pecos Wilderness, New Mexico.
I asked Jennifer a bit about how she gets herself motivated, especially if there are those hesitations with new adventures. First up, she said, “is not to kick yourself in the butt if you miss a week – make up for it later in the year when there’s beautiful weather.” The curiosity of a new hike or adventure also helps overcome the nerves, something I asked her specifically about since I often feel those butterflies hold me back.
“I want to hike the next trail to see what's on the next trail,” she told me, “or backpack into a wilderness to see what that place looks like at dawn. I feel nerves pretty regularly, especially with new trails. I do a lot of solo hiking and heading out on a new trail alone can prompt some nerves. One thing is to give yourself permission to bail if you aren't feeling it. I've only actually ended up turning back on a trail a couple of times, but starting off by remembering that you're doing this for fun and if it isn't fun you don't have to do it has always helped me to push through nerves or bad weather or bugs or whatever. I tell myself it's okay to turn around, but I'm going to go a bit further to see what's around the next turn.”
Like me, Jennifer often does her adventures solo. She experiences it “as moving meditation and a good centering activity for the week” but also finds solo adventures had to get motivated for because there’s no external person or thing to hold her accountable. I relate to this a lot – why spend all that time getting the kayak ready if nobody will know if I skip the day, even if I know I would enjoy it much more than another hour of Netflix? Jennifer can call on her partner Phil for a weekend hike, which means she’s made the appointment that week and helps her stick to the plan. She reminded me friends are also great for this!
“I'm not as wild about more technical scrambles so if I see in a trail description that it includes that I'll do that one with a partner rather than trying it the first time on my own. But even on non-technical trails striking out into the unknown can be a bit daunting.”
Taking a break for lunch on the Horsethief Trail, near Ouray, Colorado.
Jennifer’s attitude to adventure is a great model for me as I branch out in my adventuring and make the intentional effort to explore more. Her pictures of summiting fourtneeners or her 120 hike per year pace doesn’t mean others aren’t “real hikers,” or that adventures need to be so epic, either. Her advice is that any time outside is good, anyone who goes on a hike is a hiker.
“If today you want to push to your edge, go for it,” she says. “But a stroll in the foothills is a hike. A two-mile loop in the woods is a hike. Hiking, backpacking – it doesn't have to be long, it doesn't have to be grueling, it doesn't have to draw blood or make you throw up to be real. It's just the smells and sounds and sights of the outdoors and one foot in front of the other.”
One foot in front of the other towards another great year of hiking, thanks Jennifer!
