HikeArizona.COM

How are things progressing this year? In keeping with the idea that you are only as good as the numbers you post, I'm up to 61,436' of elevation for the year and a modest 132 miles.

Added August 2019: Looking back 10 years later, I honestly can't think of anything more offensive or unhealthy to say about one's hiking, than the above statement. Thats was my OP in 2009. Hiking should never just be about the stats recorded.

January 31, 2023: Have at it.

rwstorm wrote:Off the ocd treadmill forever.

When I reached my goals for mileage & AEG in 2013 I decided my only goal moving forward would be to enjoy the outdoors as much as possible.

For 2014 I have done just that. While I hiked more often, I hiked fewer miles and those at more of a slow-down-and-smell-the-flowers pace than before. Which means I spent more time outdoors and less time indoors (on the computer and on HAZ, of course).
As a result, in what some may view as an unfortunate side effect, I posted 300 fewer triplogs on HAZ than 2013.
For all the folks who enjoy reading my triplog novels? Sorry about that. :whistle:

Oh yeah, one more thing... I only posted 3,140 photos here on HAZ (which some folks viewed as excessive... apologies to those folks).
To view all 6,000+ photos and (links to) all 117 YouTube videos I posted in 2014 you'll have to visit my personal website.

2015 will be more of the same... more hikes along with a 3-week medical mission to Tanzania thrown in during the summer, so even more outdoor time/less indoor time and likely an even spottier record on HAZ. Sorry Joe... :-({|=
Don't worry, I'll still come to visit somewhat often... :guilty:

I am very happy with my year's totals, but I am not particularly concerned with my position relative to others. I do like where I ended up, and did much better than I thought I would several months ago, and far better than planned. In regard to "resolutions", I still maintain I want to not care where the AEG falls in 2015, and just hike to enjoy.

The thing about totals is, they are usually more personal than something everyone watches. At least I think they are. Except for those with very large numbers, and those are hard to get for just about everyone due to the requirements for time or physical conditioning to do 500,000 or 700,000', hardly anyone notices how everyone else is doing. I like to think that perhaps the numbers of interesting or unique hikes, or peaks, or whatever, can be just as interesting has having large totals for miles or AEG. My totals for 2012 were pathetic by my standards, but no one was writing to tell me that. Before moving to Alamo, I was on track to perhaps not break 150,000' that year. I actually did some interesting hikes while I lived in Kayenta, though. Many, were in Tucson or Colorado, but the hike up the canyon to the farm was neat. If, by some totally bizarre stroke I had stayed out there, I would probably have done more of those types of hikes, which while they can be very scenic, historical, interesting, or enjoyable, do nothing for miles or AEG totals. However, they would still be cool hikes, and if the Algodones Dunes reminds me of anything, it is that a really enjoyable hike with a large amount of joy is far more memorable than a routine beaten to death hike up a high AEG trail done a hundred times in a year. I'll remember my dune hikes, and my Todacheene Farm hike far longer than most of my hikes I have done time and time again.

http://hikearizona.com/photoset=21781

shameless self promotion.

Happy New Year 2015 everyone, now let's get out there and feverishly hike and log elevation and mileage statistics! ;)

Hey, without even trying, I have paused my lifetime hiking mileage at exactly 5,555 miles. Well, on my profile, it is 2/10ths of a mile shy on the analysis. There has got to be some sort of gambling benefit to that.

@Jim_H With your generally positive outlook on things, I wouldn't recommend gambling on anything for benefit.
;)

Jan was my first month in a year and a half where I was under 100 miles hiked. Its February 8th and I've already taken 5 days off this month .

It's no different than last year when you hid 'em all

Well, since someone else awoke the sleeping horse's corpse, or something, I shall now commence beating. I mean beating it. I mean beating the dead horse. :bdh:

I'm really impressed with SYoung. He came out of nowhere, has done Flatiron a bunch, and unlike most other top 10 AEGers, he isn't beating a fairly easy hike like Piestewa, Camelback or Tumamoc to death ( or Elden, the A Trail/Ortega or Pusch, like I have been known to do). Yes, I know, he is doing a few west Supe hikes a lot, but it is impressive when done to the tune of over 71,000'.

Personally, I am happy with where I am, and happy both with my miles and AEG stats, which I am not focusing on as much (but still enjoy having at pretty good levels) and am instead really happy with the numbers of peaks and unique hikes, and new hikes I have done. I had my best January since 2011, and that seems significant. I still don't have any yearly goals, but I would like to have 1, and maybe 2, "impressive" for me months in either March or April before I expect it gets too hot in May. Impressive being over 35,000', and maybe over 40,000' or 50,000'. I suppose, I could set a goal of 60,000', but I feel like that would only invite injury. Then again, at 2,000' a day on average, maybe I should. Just because. Just because.

FYI. You just wrote three paragraphs about the stats you are not focusing on.

Just wait until I get obsessed!

Jim_H wrote:Just wait until I get obsessed!

Well, Jim, hay is extremely expensive right now, so no doubt you'll find plenty of dead horses around. You'll have to recycle the stick, though.

Currently on a 17 day streak of nothing. I need to move to Alaska so I can always have daylight to hike in, no matter what time I wake up.

Patrick L wrote: I need to move to Alaska so I can always have daylight to hike in, no matter what time I wake up.

I think that only works in the summertime, man...in the dead of winter, the sun barely makes it over the horizon for a couple hours...

That's a good balance. Hibernate in winter, hike for days on end in the summer.

With the first quarter now over, I notice that I'm hiking less this year. But my mileage and aeg per trip are up about 20%. So my totals are close to where they were the past two years.

Well, I had some thoughts, but....PM sent to David_Allen_3.

Approaching the half way point for the year and paying attention to hiking stats, which is the only reason anyone ever hikes, the usual suspects mostly round out the upper echelon for AEG, with 2 notable exceptions. Both Syoung and CannondaleKid are putting in some impressive numbers. Huge jumps over last year.

Jim_H wrote:CannondaleKid are putting in some impressive numbers. Huge jumps over last year.

I started off slow in January but retired for good at the end of the month and began hiking as much as possible.

Unfortunately my pace dropped in May due first to an injury then the Jeep was down for a week or so.

June pace? Awful... too many days tied up dealing with passports, visas, immunizations, etc. in preparation for our trip to Tanzania mid July. Still saving $ for the trip so driving as little as possible, ergo, less hiking.

Even missing almost a month of hiking while in Tanzania I'm working on doubling miles & AEG over last year.

@CannondaleKid
Still, 192,000' before July 1, is pretty impressive.

I've hiked 6 miles in the last three months. I'm totally killin' it this year.