Fit-Pic: Take a Hike

What do you do when it's 60-plus degrees and sunny in December? The obvious answer: Get outside and take advantage of it. Even if that means hiking alone because your partner-in-fitness-crime has to work.

I wasn't the only one hiking today. With vistas like the above, can you blame me? The gym parking lot wasn't nearly as packed as it had been a week ago, but the open spaces' lots were nearly full. I think we all wanted to hike, bike, mountain bike, climb, bask in the sunlight, you name it. Hey, it beats burning calories indoors on the elliptical, unless there's a really good round holiday movies playing. But really, how many times can you watch Christmas Vacation, Elf and Home Alone? I'd still take my frozen fingers, the thoughts I had on the Contemplative Trail (still trying to remember them though), and the outdoor exploration.

How were you active today?

Hike Me: Top Trails Near Vail and Beaver Creek

After spending nearly two weeks hiking in the Canadian Rockies, my office back at home feels like a hell hole. It's summer. It's sunny. It's warm. I know that these days will be gone all too quickly and I'll be regretting not spending more time outside when I wanted to. And I know that I'd easily trade a desk day for a hiking one. I might not be able to make it back to Canada anytime soon--and judging by some of the weather we had while we were there, cold and rain while a heat wave hit Chicago, I'm not sure I'd beg to return right away--but I can keep my eye on pursuits a little closer to home. OK, not so close since they're in Colorado, but at least if I go to the state that I hope to call home, eventually, I don't have to bring my passport and convert kilometers and Canadian dollars.

When my husband and I plan out forays out into the forest, we're all about tracking down some of the hardest. For him, I don't know what the reward is unless it's seeing how much he can tire me out. For me, I feel like I earned my ice cream sundae (hey, a girl's gotta splurge every now and then) after the loop back to the trailhead, tackling the tough stuff.

As for the latest adventures, research sent me scouring the trail maps in and around Vail and Beaver Creek. You've already got altitude, but throw in some summits to 12,000, 13,000 and 14,000 feet, and some heavy mileage underfoot and you've got a difficult day hike. And I have yet to find a spot outside Colorado that takes me on a bigger challenge--but do tell if you know of one. Just where in, about and around Vail and Beaver Creek should you hike? Take a look at these top hikes as recommended in part by Nathan Goldberg who heads up the Beaver Creek Hiking Center. The extra cool factor: even when you don't have a partner in crime ready to take those challenges with you, you can find a hike happening with BCHC and get going with a guide. I might have to keep that in mind though as an opportunity to bow out when injury holds me back--it might save my husband from hearing me whine about my aches and pains.


Photo grabbed from Beaver Creek and Vail Resorts.

Trail Running: How Do They Do It?

Give me a trailhead and I'll hike it. Give me singletrack and I'll mountain bike it (or try considering I hop off my bike at every scary turn, descent and tree root). But there's no way you'd find me running that trail with my running shoes--I could only dream of being coordinated, skilled, and any other adjective I can name that a true trail runner embodies.

I know plenty of people who trail run, one friend who even swears by the Palos trails just outside Chicago's city limits for her return to running after repeated injuries. The problem: I'm just not one of them. I can only watch in awe. I barely get along with the pavement (you should see the scars on my knees and elbows, results of running falls). But me and the trails, I'm lucky I can walk or mountain bike them. I can barely survive a hike without tripping over a tree root or turning my ankle on a rock. As for running, I'm scared to even try--unless it was Palos' tamed crushed gravel trail, far away from the singletrack and a far cry from the trails I've hiked ever so slowly especially on the descents.

That's where the above picture comes in. How do these guys run--yes, they were running when I spotted them on the trail in Jasper National Park way up north in the Canadian Rockies--the trails? And how do they run a trail as bumpy as this one so effortlessly? I just don't get it. I almost twisted my ankle on a misstep and could feel each tarsal of my foot on the rock-hard ground. Sand runs: Those make sense. Trails where you're negotiating rocks, tree roots, uneven surfaces: I'm clueless.

Help a girl out. Trail runners: Can you offer an explanation?

Take a Hike!

I can't help it: I've got hiking on the brain. But honestly, can you blame me? In the last 48 hours I've gone from Chicago's flatlands to the Canadian Rockies where the mountains jut into the sky at even steeper rates than what I've seen in Colorado. I've traded my obligatory summer flip flops for a new pair of hiking boots. I don't leave "camp" (no tent camping this time around) without my CamelBak, rain shell and a million layers. And I've chatted with Nate Goldberg who heads up the Beaver Creek Hiking Center.

If I wasn't super psyched about hiking through the Canadian Rockies when I boarded the plane--let's just say my recovery stress fracture left me doubting my ability to do anything uber active for the entire summer--Goldberg got me far more excited. And well, he also made me want to hop aboard the next plane to Denver. Yes, that's exactly how much I wanted to hike, not bike, a fourteener, see the Mount of the Holy Cross when it's not completely buried under snow, and check out this Beaver Lake that all the locals rave about.  

Want to learn more about the Beaver Creek Hiking Center? It's all laid out here with everything you didn't know before you go. But one thing I forgot: plan carefully if you're particular about your flora and fauna sightings. You'll see, and trudge through, a lot more mud in the early season while missing out on the flowers and mushrooms. Goldberg says it's constantly changing up there--that also goes for any rain forecasts. Proof? Just look at these photos.