Maybe it was all the Man vs. Wild episodes we’ve been watching or maybe it was just the call of nature, but Jason surprised me with a hiking trip last weekend and did his best to get us stranded in the middle of nowhere. Well, as you can tell by my writing this, I survived to tell the story.

Last year Jason and I spent 10 days hiking the Smokey Mountains in Tennessee. We had a great (albeit strenuous) time challenging ourselves to finish some advanced trails and ever since we left we’ve wanted to go back and try some of the most challenging trails again. We have both increased our fitness levels this year and are eager to compare the difficulty of the trails last year to how well we can do them now. Unfortunately, with our busy schedules, we still can’t get back to Tennessee for a while, so Jason found a hiking spot a couple hours away from us here in Georgia called “The Grand Canyon of the South”.  According to the website, there is a seven mile “advanced/strenuous” trail that we hoped would be as challenging as some of the Smokey Mountain Trails.

We arrived on Saturday and checked into our hotel with the intention of hiking that day. We found out that we were actually still an hour away from the hiking location and it was raining like crazy, so we decided to postpone the trail for Sunday. When the rain let up, we set out to explore the town we were staying in (Columbus, Georgia). It turns out Columbus is famous for having a beautiful river walk that follows the Chattahoochee River. We walked along the river for about an hour and enjoyed being outside in the fresh air.  I was glad we found a way to get in some exercise because I had been expecting a big hike that day and had already eaten a lot in the morning in preparation!

Sunday morning arrived and we set out for the Grand Canyon of the South! It was still raining but we decided we’d hike anyway and just plan on getting soaked. Jason, as I mentioned before, was secretly hoping to get stranded on the mountain because really wants to put some of his survivor skills to the test. He packed a hiking bag with enough food to last us days, a flashlight, knife, matches, lighters, clothing, about 10 water bottles, an umbrella, and various other odds and ends. The result was a bag that weighed close to 25 pounds! This is new behavior for Jay; he always carries a loaded bag when we hike, even if he’s not concerned about survival, because he likes the added resistance to make his workout harder! I’m fine with this because I like to have certain things handy (tissues, lip gloss, sunscreen, gum, etc.) and I really don’t like to carry stuff when I hike so I just dump it all in his bag. I figure, I have to carry my purse around all the time anyway and I want to feel free and unencumbered when I’m enjoying the outdoors!

Long story short (too late!) the “seven-mile strenuous hike” turned out to be incredibly beautiful but not so strenuous at all! Despite the fact that the only thing we forgot to pack was a map, we were able to feel our way around the poorly marked trail and make it from the start to finish in record time.  The “grand canyon of the south” was more of a grand dent, and the “strenuous hike” was more of a stroll, but neither of those things mattered in the end because I realized that what makes a hiking trip truly special is the sense of adventure, the unknown, and the company. When you hike a trail for the first time you never know what to expect or what challenge will be around the next corner. Sharing that sense of the unknown with someone is one of those special bonding experiences that shape and strengthen your relationship. You don’t know what to expect but you know you’ll get through it together.

Ruminations aside, here’s the takeaway fitness tip: Plan a day trip to hike with someone special to you.  Choose a trail you’ve never done before and make it a super-challenging workout by weighing yourself down with survival gear. If the hike is too easy, you’ve got resistance built in; and if the hike is too hard, at least you’ll know you can hunker down and survive the elements until you’re ready to move again!