Sunshine in sight & getting outdoors in mind!

Spring is in the air, sun is in the sky, and getting outdoors is definitely on my mind! Do you feel the same way? As many of you know, hiking and getting outdoors is something I love doing and is one way I stop and smell the roses. I love the way it makes me feel, love the beautiful sights of nature, love that you can make it as active or leisurely as you would like, and I love spending time with friends while on these adventures!

I know there are many people who love getting outdoors as much as I do and I want to bring those people together. Connecting with people who have the same passions is so great for the soul, am I right?? :) SOOOO DRUM ROLL... I am starting a hiking group where we can share this love for getting outdoors and create a community of people who have the same interests. Sounds fun, right? Imagine a group of people who meet up regularly and explore the PNW together by hiking all the trails, near to far and easy to hard. If this sounds like something you want to do, let me know by emailing me that you want to join or want to be in the loop. I will create a list of everyone who is interested. Then we will plan our first hike and let everyone know the time and location. And then we will continue to do this hike after hike, adventure after adventure. YAYY! So excited! Looking forward to you joining this fun adventure!

In the meantime, I recently went on two short hikes in the PNW with a group of people who are joining this fun group I talk about above! ;) Here are my highlights from these two amazing hikes:

Little Mountain Park Loop:

With three adults, a baby, and a dog, we hiked Little Mountain Park Loop at the beginning of March. I loved that there were multiple trails to choose from. This allowed for us to choose the distance and effort we wanted to do. The trails were marked pretty good and if you have the AllTrails App, you are golden. There are a few lookout points that are great to see all the beautiful views and snap pictures from. We hiked for about 2 hours, went almost 4 miles, and gained about 775 feet in elevation. While we got a very good workout in (burned over 1000 calories) we wanted this outdoor adventure to be more leisurely...and that it was! It was an absolute blast going with this group, seeing the amazing views, getting a workout in, and adding another wonderful hike to the completed list. I definitely recommend this one and will do it again.

Cherry Creek Falls Trail:

Four adults, a baby, and a dog made for a great hike on Cherry Creek Falls Trail. This trail is out and back. However, there's also a little loop that you can go on which brings you around by the waterfalls so you can head back to the beginning of the trail. That's what we did. We ended up adding some distance on by doing this. We hiked 6 miles (the AllTrails App says it's about 4.9 miles out and back) and we gained 669 feet in elevation. We hiked this mid March and there was still some snowy areas on the extra loop section and there was muddy areas where the snow melted on the trail in other spots. We burned close to 1500 calories and hiked for about 2 and a half hours. We got our workout in for the day while leisurely enjoying the hike. I will definitely be doing this hike again. And hey, maybe we can do it together!

That's all for now friends! Thanks for slowing down and reading how I stop to smell the roses. I hope it's a good reminder for you to slow down and enjoy the beauty of life however you like doing so. And if you enjoy hiking and that's one way you stop to smell the roses, I look forward to hearing from you and getting outdoors together with our hiking group that is coming very soon!

xo

Bri