At the start of the year, I set some hiking goals for myself for 2014. How did I do?
Hike 8 new places this year - I did 13 new hikes last year! That goal is reached.
Hike 5 times in Shenandoah National Park or the area. I did 8 hikes in SNP or in the Blue Ridge. That goal is reached,
Hike in two states not hiked in during 2013, and one of these must be a state I have never hiked in. I hiked in West Virginia in April and again in September, a state I never have hiked in before. But I never got to a second state, at least the way I measure it. To qualify as a hike for this purpose, the trek must be at least four miles long. I did three short hikes in Maine and they totaled more than four miles, but no single hike was that long. So, I will count that as partially attaining that goal. I took hikes in Virginia, Michigan, West Virginia, Maine, and New Jersey. I think that is it. The Maine and New Jersey hikes were too short to qualify towards this goal.
Hike in a foreign country. I went hiking in Scotland in May. That goal is reached.
Volunteer to lead a hike. Nope, not last year.
Go backpacking three times. I did four trips, a one-nighter by myself in Laurel Forks, a three nighter in the Cranberry Wilderness of West Virginia, two nights solo around Matthew's Arm, and two nights (should have been eight nights) on the Appalachian Trail. So, that goal is reached.
Practice navigation (without a GPS) and orienteering. No progress on this goal.
Hike at least 110 trail miles. I hiked 195 non-urban trail miles, so that goal is reached.
Keep this blog going. Yup, doing that, clearly. I've documented every hike I have taken since mid-2008 on this blog.
So, all in all, I attained most of my goals but failed completely on two goals, and only partially attained one more. I think I am especially happy with how many times I got out backpacking and the number of trail miles I did. One thing that is clear - I get out a lot more for hiking when I am not training for a half marathon or other long race.
