The Washington State Hiking Podcast

2026 Hiking Resolutions (and reviewing 2025)

• Jennie Thwing Flaming and Craig Romano • Episode 96

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 Welcome to the Washington State Hiking Podcast. I'm your host, Jennie Thwing Flaming, 

and I'm your co-host Craig Romano.

Craig and I are happy to have you here. We provide practical and timely seasonal hiking advice for hikers, trail runners, and potential hikers and trail runners of all skill and ability levels that is helpful, accurate, fun, and inclusive.



 Craig, happy New Year. Happy New Year. Jennie. I cannot believe I say this every year. This is so trite. Uh, it's, it's another year. It's 2026. Where the hell did all those other years go? You know what's really funny is I have our transcript from last year so I could look up what I said. Oh, I, I, I'm gonna love it.

Stage out moves. And you said, this is what you said. Um. Happy New Year 2025. It's inconceivable to think we're getting a quarter of the way into the century. Whoa. I I was actually, I was a little bit more That's what you said a year ago. I actually said that, huh? Yeah, you did. And then I said, whoa, 2000 was 25 years ago.

I. I'll tell you here we are more than halfway through the roaring twenties. The roaring twenties, right. Geez, this has been, you know, my wife and I talk about this all the time. Uh, this has gotta be probably the worst decade that I've lived, lived through, and I've lived through a handful. Yeah. And, and, and I'll tell you I love this too because, um, prince.

Rest, rest in peace. When he decided we were gonna party like it's 1999, he picked the right year in the right decade. Let me tell you, the nineties, that was the best decade of all the ones I've lived. I mean it, so I, he did well on that. 'cause we're certainly, I don't wanna party like it's 2029. Maybe it's gonna be, but it's certainly not like it was 2020 or 2020.

Yeah. Yeah. That, that's real. The 2020s have been. Have been real challenging, that's for sure. They have. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know if we're gonna, I don't know if these aren't the roaring twenties. I wonder what we're gonna call these. Well, they're roaring in other ways, I guess. Um, it'll be interesting and, uh, but we're not over yet.

I mean, we still have some decades to get through. Mm-hmm. So let's, let's hope 22. Let's, let's just hope that these twenties don't end like the 1920s. Yes. That we can, we can start, uh, turning, turning things around. So last year we started this episode, so listeners, what we thought we would do is like talk about what our hiking related resolutions were last year and what happened with those, and then what we're thinking for this year.

Do you remember what your resolution was? Uh, well, no, and well actually sort of, but I also read Okay. What I said. Um, so first did you have a Gym me membership for three weeks? Yeah. I mean, that's what everybody does, right? Right. And so first of all, um, I mean I definitely know what my goals were in general, but I was like, what did I say specifically about hiking?

Um, and we also talked about first day hikes, so Right. We are recording this before January 1st. Uh, not much before, but a little before. And last year we talked about first day hikes. And I believe you said you have a first day run tradition. Right? I have a last day hike. I always, I hike on the last day of the year and I do a run on the first day of the hike.

That's cool. The first I, I, first day of the year. Yes. That's and been my pattern for a Do you remember where you did those last year? Of course. Okay. Will you tell us It was, it was in New Hampshire, so, right. 'cause you were back home. I was back, yeah. Back with the family. Um, yeah. Uh, I have done, um, I have done those in Washington too when I'm here.

But, but, um, but no, the, the, I primarily, most of my New years I've been in New Hampshire. Yeah, cool. Which means. I never stay up to watch the ball drop. I, I've watched it drop on the West coast. 'cause you know, I'm old. It's nine o'clock on the west coast when the ball drops, it's midnight on the East coast.

When it drops. I don't stay up to midnight anymore. So, yeah, it could be, it could be a tough one for sure. Yeah. Well, last year I, I do do a first day hike and last year I was in Anchorage for Oh, so you weren't here either. You were outside the house? I was not, no. Never travel more during holidays. Two more hours away from New York.

Yeah. Yeah. But last year I did. Last year Jay and I went to Anchorage for New Year's and um, so I did a lot of great hikes while I was there. I really love Alaska in the winter, and I know I'm weird that way compared to here winter. Yeah. Um, I like the weather better. Yes. It's cold. Whatever. Um, last year on New Year's in Anchorage, there wa and all over Alaska there was an amazing Aurora must been.

So that was pretty cool. That has nothing to do with hiking, but it was Brad. Oh yeah, I can, I can. It was one of the best ones that I've seen actually. And you know, I lived in Fairbanks for five years, which normally has way better Auroras than Anchorage, but it was just a really great night and I didn't go anywhere special.

Well, you know, it's funny, I, I just thought, 'cause we, we both have spent our New Years in cold, snowy places and I need, I was listening to a couple of the podcasts that you recorded without me and I need to clear the air. I do not. I, I, I am not. Anti snow. And I was just gonna say, when I recorded that chronologically plane that I said he doesn't like snow hiking, is what I said.

I, and again, I have to clarify that I generally don't care for it here. Um, that's the thing. I I, I, if I lived on the east side of the Cascades. I would love it. Um, I've loved it. Yeah, but the snow blows away a lot over there. I don't like the wet, heavy snow here. I don't like the gray. I, it's dangerous with the avalanches.

I can never get to the trailhead. It was far easier when I lived in Vermont. Remember I worked for seven years in the ski industry. Um, I know you did, so you can't, I I like winter, so I know, and I'm just saying again. I was very specific. I said that you're not a fan of snow hiking. I got a kick out of it.

Well, and a lot of it's because I've, I've got this new love with ultra running, so I'm running through the air and, and yeah, I certainly, I'd rather be doing that in, you know, Southern California, Arizona than being stuck in heavy. It's running and snow is not great. Not I've, that I lived in a place where unless you're gonna do a treadmill Yeah.

You're gonna be running on ice and snow and it's not great. Right. It's a good way to get, it's a good way to get injured too. It's very easy to, to pull a muscle and, yeah. Yep. Sore. Think what it's, you're of treadmills like I am. And you live in a place where there's ice, ice on the ground seven months of the year, then it's a little challenging.

Yeah. No, I love cross country skiing. Uh, matter of fact, I think I met, I learned how to cross country ski at the Von Trop, you know, the sound of music in Vermont. That's where I learned how to, I mean, I can't get any cooler than that. You know, you can't, I mean, that is, that is the coolest thing that I've ever heard.

Ever. Yeah. So that's where I learned how to ski. How to ski. You cross country ski? Yeah. Yeah. All right. Um, but that episode was not about cross country skiing. No, I know it was about hiking. Yeah. I'd rather be skiing than hiking in the snow. Okay. Alright. You made your point. Okay. I was like, I was recording and I was like, Craig is gonna chew me out over this if I'm not very careful about what I say.

And maybe even then. And he did it twice, two episodes in a row. These guys haven't even listened to that episode yet, Craig, because it's not coming out for two weeks. Well, I just wanna set the, I love winter, you know, though, I do have to, I do have to take breaks from it. I do love going to Arizona in the winter too, but, uh, I do like snow, um, but I'm not, yeah, I, I'd rather go trail running than trudging in the snow.

Yes, I get that. I'm not that way, but I get it. Yeah. You love, you embrace it more than I do. Um, yes. And in fact, I get burned out on winter here and I have to go to a place with real winter. I don't care about going in a warm place in the summer, but I do need to have a real winter, which we do not, not have here you go for the real winter.

I go for the sun. I'm sorry. We, I know a few places we sort of have real winter, but, okay. So. For, yeah, so I did several, I did um, Mount Baldy, which is near Anchorage. It was just amazing. I did another, um, kind of chill hike, uh, tourn tourniquet trail. Um, and then I also did a hike on the Coastal Trail.

Actually, that was what I did on New Year's Day. So anyway, it was good. Very cool. Nice. But moving on from last New Year's. Okay, Craig? I'm looking back. No, I had a big, I had a big resolution last year. I know. And we recorded a whole episode about it. So in October. Um, okay, so here's what you said, Craig. Last January, you said, I've made it my goal for 2025 to run my first a hundred mile run, and you didn't know where you were doing it yet.

Right. I hadn't signed, I, I actually did, or it was a secret I hadn't signed up yet. Yet. Yeah. Yeah. I didn't hadn signed up yet. It public yet. Yeah. Okay. No. So listeners, if you miss the episode where Craig shared his story of meeting this goal, it was really good. And we talked not only about that, but also about getting older and exercise goals.

And I thought that was a great conversation. So go back and listen to that. But for right now, Craig. You did the a hundred mile run. Congratulations. I did the a hundred mile and I got older. And you also got older. And I was gonna say my primary goal was to turn 50. And I'm proud to say that I did turn 50.

You made it. Congrats. Yes. Um, okay, so. We're, I know you've also got your goal about doing a marathon or a half, right? I do, uh, in 50 states. Right? It's a marathon or ultra. Yeah. Marathon Ultra. Or an Ultra. Okay. Yeah. All 50 states. Not a half, half a marathon or an ultra, not a half. No. It's gotta be, it's gotta be 26 miles or more.

Yeah. So how many states did you do this year? Uh, I'm, I, so in, in, um, 2025, how many did I did, I did, I added Texas, Ohio, and Florida. Um Okay. In, in, in the States. So I had three more. That I added, I already have coming up for 2026. I've got Nevada coming up. I've got Utah coming up, uh, Massachusetts more than likely, and I'm looking at Illinois too.

So that, that's part of my goals for 2026. My, I have my races picked for those. Cool. Wow. Okay. So right now, how many states do you have total out of 50. Uh, 11. Yeah. Okay. And then you're adding. How many more this year? Hopefully at least four. At least four? Okay. May hope maybe five if it, it depends. Cool.

Yeah. You know, I, I think I've met, I'm in no, no hurry, because to me it's all, again, it's about the journey. When I go to these places, I don't just go do the run and come home. Plenty of people do that and that. That's your style. I. Get the full experience of the place I go there. I, I wanna, I wanna spend some time checking these places out, which usually, which all always involves more hiking, you know, at, at these areas, you know, more runs and then cultural things, you know, depending on where I'm at.

Yeah. So when I was in Ohio, I spent time in the, in, in, uh. Hawking Hills hiking. Spectacular place. I went to the Red River Gorge in Kentucky. Uh, red River. Uh, yeah, river Go. Another spectacular place. Um, yeah, I mean it's, there's just an in incre it's, it's an excuse to get me to go east, but actually, you know, I don't need an excuse.

I love doing it. It's realizing that life is so short and, um, it's really easy to say, oh, I'll get to it. I'll get. Kind of puts me like, well get to it. Yeah. Right. And that's part of our resolutions, you know? Yeah. Get to it because life is short and that's what's so cool. Have these re resolutions and don't put 'em off.

Because even, even if you don't complete them, the fact that you're, you're, you're in motion and, and, and, and not saying, ah, you know, later. Later. Totally. Because later may never come. Yeah, that's true. So. You. Okay, so you've done 11 and you did like three last year and you're doing four this year. I'm just trying to think about how many years it would take you on if you did three.

Let's say you did four a year. Yeah, five. Five is probably the ideal. Uh, I just last year because everything was the a hundred mile and I did a lot of races. And I raced out, out, out of the state too. Most of my races were in Oregon. I did in California too, but they weren't adding to the, you know, I've already done Oregon in California in my list.

So that's what made it more difficult. That was the bigger, the bigger goal was that a hundred miler, um, in, in Oregon, uh, had me, the mo I spent more time in Oregon last year than I have in long. I, I love the racing scene down there. And then I had a writing conference down there, so I got to. Climb Mount McLaughlin and go to Crater Lake.

And that's cool. Which again, you're looking for resolutions. Uh, here's a, here's a Northwest national park that a lot of people in Washington, you know, forget about. So, you know, that's a great place. Put that on your, you know, forget Rainier this year. Head to head to head to Crater Lake. See what Rainier's gonna look like after it loses its top, you know, and it fills in.

Yeah. So in 10,000 years or whatever. Exactly. Yeah. But, um, or, or now. You never know. Craig, have you seen this meme? I don't know if you've seen it listeners, but I absolutely love it. It has a picture of Matt Rainier and it says, so I just was like my favorite. It says, Matt Rainier will probably not erupt in your lifetime.

Except maybe at the very end. I love it. I love it. I just like, yeah. Think about it. That's great. Yeah. Maybe it's, that's, that's exactly how it's gonna play out. Yeah. Oh gosh. Okay. So do you have, other than continuing to work on your long-term goal, right. Um, are there any other specific hiking or trail running goals Yeah.

That you have for 2026? Yeah, so, uh, I'm, I'm. Putting another hundred mile on the calendar again, I'm gonna do it again. Um, again, and, and also I need to maintain, um, my eligibility to run in the Western States 100. So I got in the lottery and I didn't get into the race. Uh, otherwise that would be part of, I knew it's, it, is it, I have a better chance of winning a, you know, a, a monetary lottery.

But the more that you enter. Your odds get back. 'cause they, they have this complicated where they enter tickets for you. So after you've been, you get more and more, so usually within six years. Oh. So if you've, if it's like your fifth time, you got five tickets. Right. You get more Ries have one. Yeah. Yeah.

Oh, that's cool. It's really big. So usually by the chance, like sixth, seventh time, you're, you're almost gonna get in trouble with meat is that I'm not a spring chicken. And if it takes me seven years to get in, I don't know if I can, I, if I can run it, uh, I, I, I think. As of now, I'm capable of running the course, but it has a 30 hour, uh, timeline.

Yeah. So one of my goals this year, I'm gonna run another a hundred mile. Mile and I'm looking at Oregon again. Oregon. I love the, Oregon's been good to me. I love the courses down here, but it's gonna be, um, I'm gonna be shooting for that 30 hour, uh, time on that. So that's gonna be a big goal, uh, yeah. To see if I'm capable of doing that.

Mm-hmm. You know. So yeah, that's to get double entries for being over 60. No, and you know what frustrates me? Thanks for bringing that up. So, you know, I'm a road runner too, and I ran Boston. Um, I was 29 when I had the hardest, uh, 'cause the younger you are, you had, I had to run under three hours and 10 minutes.

And, but the thing is as you get older, they give you more time. So now at 64, I think it's two hour i'd two, three hours and 50 minutes. So it's like a lot more time because realizing you slow down. Western States doesn't do that. Everybody, whether you're 25 or 65, you've got it. You know, you've got 30 hours.

Yeah. It's tough. It is tough. I, I So, and you talked about that being your biggest concern with Meadows was the time Yes. Not not being able to finish. Exactly. And matter of fact, that's something, you know, I a lot we've been talking about in the, in the trail running community now too, as a lot of us are aging, um, in a lot in some of these, um.

You wanna be more inclusive. Actually, it goes back to the inclusivity again. There's a lot of fit, you know, 50 and 60 year olds Yeah. That would love to be doing a lot more of these events. But they look at some of these times they're like, I don't wanna spend my money and realize I can't do it even though they're capable.

So that's an interesting, uh, area too. It's, you know, those of us who are trying to stay, uh, healthy with these goals and everything, realizing that, you know, there's just. Certain things you can't do. So, so, um, anyways, that, that's a whole nother a lot of buzz going on that and, and the hiking, especially these race directors start aging and, and start realizing, Hmm, or their numbers start going down because a lot of, a lot of, you know, the older people who have more time and resources to do these races aren't entering the races anymore.

So anyways, that's a whole nother another story. Yeah, for sure. But, um, for, but this will be my goal, uh, another a hundred miler. Uh, a challenging one. Of course. Yeah. And, and, um, hopefully a much faster time than I did, uh, the first round. Cool. Yeah. What are your goals? Well, your, your, your resolutions. Yeah.

You know, it's funny 'cause we talked about this last year. I don't exactly do that. Like, I mean, I do, I like to have a really hard reset this time of year. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Um, I think I tend to do more goal setting to the degree that I do that. Which around my birthday, which is in September, you know, I spent so many years working in schools.

Now I work in tourism, which is on a similar seasonal rhythm, so, mm-hmm. I, um, you know, as you know, as I think our listeners know, I'm in Alaska halftime, like May through September, sometimes into October. And so, um. It. That's kind of a natural time for when things are changing and like what am I gonna do with, you know, my business, my website, our podcast, my other podcast, my travel planning services like that and my personal things kind of, I don't know.

That feels like a good time of year to do that. This time of year feels like a good time to just like take a break for a minute. But that said. I do last year. I know I talked about wanting to do a harder hike than I had done for a while, and I did that. That was cool. I did. Um, and for those of you who've listened for a while, you've probably heard the podcast I recorded about this that was about parking, not really about the hike, but I think it's worth sharing here.

Um, so I. Did Cutthroat Pass with my cousin and a friend of ours and. I mentioned, I, I don't, when we did this episode last year, we didn't talk about this hike specifically, but for me, a hike with 2000 feet of elevation gain that's 11 miles long is hard for me. Um, I know it's easy for you, but for me it's hard and at some point it will no longer be easy for me.

And I realize that that goes back to the gratitude, uh, episode we did. Yeah. And so I just really wanted to do. Longer. I'm not, right now, I am feeling kind of exhausted by super steep hikes. You know, with like big stairs, I have short legs. I, I will do it, but it's not my favorite. So I gotta say that this hike.

First of all, it was peak larch season. It was awesome. There was all this drama with parking. There's always drama with parking, but there, but the parking lot was closed at the PCT Trailhead 'cause it was being repaved. And there, we talked about that on the podcast before. So my cousin and I were like, okay, what are we gonna do?

We can't. We're not gonna park illegally. We just were like, we're not doing that. It's fine that other people are, we're not gonna do it. So we decided to start from Cutthroat Lake instead, which having done it now, I would, I would highly recommend going that way. It's longer and there's more elevation gains.

So that was part of the rub, right? Where like we are choosing to make this hike harder. It was more like. 12 and a half miles ran trip, and more like 2,400 feet of elevation gain. So not a huge amount, but you're already talking about a short day, you know, October, right? Mm-hmm. Anyway, it was awesome. I loved it.

So it was a tough hike for me, but it didn't feel as hard as it was, and I think a lot of that was because it was a steady climb. Sure. It was never like destroy your body, steep ever. And I love that. It was beautiful. I mean, it was awesome. So I would recommend doing it that way to other people. It's a little longer, but you can do, it's, it's, well, great if you could do it the other way.

You can do it this way. Do do it, I guess is my point, right? Or you know, or if you're, do it a one way. If you've got. Meeting somebody else out there. It's always, it's a great shuttle. Yep. You could to That would be really cool also. So, so if, if, and it wasn't crowded, going up from that side is the other thing.

Oh yeah. You, you, you won't have to worry about parking at all. Um, you will have to worry about mosquitoes if you do it in the summertime. Yes. Cutthroat Lake is a shallow body of water. Yep. October is good. July not, yeah, it was for, it was like 30 degrees when I started at like 7:00 AM so, uh, yeah, bugs were not an issue, but yes.

They would be in the summer. Yeah, for sure. So I guess as far as my hiking goals, I, um, I really, that hike did kind of inspire me to start doing some longer excellent, harder ones again. 'cause I was like, oh, I do enjoy this. I just don't enjoy ones where I have to jump down. Rocks that are like waist high on me.

I hate that. What trails are you hiking? It sounds like you're going off trail. Well, like no, I'm just thinking about one that is like that. Let me think for a second. Well, one is mailbox peak. Yeah, but that's mailbox be, I don't, I don't run the matter of fact what you were saying about cutthroat, uh, cutthroat pass, those are the places.

Why, why do I love running in Oregon? Because it does, even though I'll do big elevation days, it's those long, gradual, you don't even feel it. It's so nice. Instead of just going straight up or rocky, usually it's, yeah. So yeah, you, I'm not gonna, I do feel it. But I feel it and enjoy it, as opposed to feeling it and being like, oh, this is a grind.

Yeah. If you don't enjoy it, that's the thing too, which is also interesting to like, you know, I, I mean, I, it's hard to, you know, do I, I actually enjoy. Doing these 50 mile runs and everything. If I didn't, I wouldn't be doing. But yeah, it, it is always interesting people how your motivation, if you're out there and you're cussing and you're cursing and you're just doing it 'cause you're trying to, you wanna do mailbox 'cause everybody else is doing mailbox and you're hating the experience.

Yeah, you may wanna assess why you're out there. Yeah. You know, it should be something you're doing 'cause you enjoy. Which, which is a great, uh, segue, uh, for what we're doing, these resolutions and everything. And, and I, and I probably mentioned this before too, Jennie, um, but I remember setting goals and, and, and I, I don't just do it on New Year's, I kind of like you too.

I kinda use my birthday and markers, but for my 60th birthday, I had made this big. Planned to do this. What I always wanted to do was the presidential range in New Hampshire. I was gonna do it in a day. Very, very difficult. Yeah. And I did it and it was amazing. And I posted about it and I had readers of mine say, wow, that sounds amazing.

I'm gonna turn 50 or 60. What should I do for my birthday? And it really struck me. It's like. Well, first of all, this isn't to be mean or anything. I really don't care what you do for your birthday. Yeah. It has to mean what you, what you care. Yes. Because whatever you do, I'm gonna support it, whatever it is.

Yeah. And it, it doesn't have to be grand. It doesn't, it has to be meaningful to you. Yeah. And so Jennie and I are talking about what's meaningful to us. Um, so Yes. When you're setting that, that resolution, um. Yeah, make it meaningful and a chance and, and, and, and, and, and then your chance of success will be much better too than if you're just doing it outta peer pressure.

'cause everybody else is doing, it's the latest trend. No. Um, I, you should enjoy this. This is what it's all about. Yeah. I mean, I like challenge, I like pushing myself and I like, you know. Yeah, it definitely my first a hundred. There were moments like, oh my God, this is, this is brutal. But when I finished, I was glowing and I thought, Hey, I, I'm gonna do this again.

So I did enjoy it. Yeah. In a sick, sick, twisted way. But uh, and I know people, I wouldn't enjoy that. And that since, as we've talked about many times, I'm like, yeah, no. But I think for me, I guess the point of that is that I want to do more challenging fun hikes this year. Like where I actually look at the map and I'm like.

That challenging hike will be fun. This one will be very annoying. I'm not gonna do that this year. Maybe someday, but not this year. Um, so yeah, I think that's the biggest thing. I also, um, I haven't had for a year a vehicle that I can drive more than 30 miles from home. And now I do have a vehicle that I can drive wherever I want.

Yay. Ah, I can open up a big world. So I'm looking forward to being able to go further away in Washington, you know, more places in eastern Washington, especially more places on the Olympic Peninsula. Haven't been able to do that for like, well, for over a year really. So I am really excited about that. And, and that's again, wonderful segue through that.

I wanna talk about. So when you're out there, alright, it's resolution time. What I'm doing, and one of the things, same thing, I meet lots of people that are big time hikers and everything, but then I find. And again, it's, it's, it's your world, but they only hike in a small little piece of the big hiking world.

So maybe for your resolution, you've always been on the mountain loop highway. 'cause that's your backyard. Yeah. Venture out on a highway to, um, this might not be the good year for highway two, but, but other, but, so look, make that a resolution. Uh, sit there, expand your world. Try someplace different, someplace different in the state.

Go to I, there's plenty of people in the greater Seattle area that haven't made the trip over to the Olympic Peninsula. It's not that far. Uh, but it's worlds away. It's an entirely different environment. Likewise, going east, the eastern side of the Cascades, we've got two big mountain ranges in eastern Washington.

Very few people in the Seattle area explore. It's the Selkirks in the Northeast and the blues in the southeast. Make that, you know, a resolution to check out some new territory. And then again, most, you know, a lot of you have been listening to this regularly, you know, that my world is, is very, very big. I love going to other parts of the country.

I love California. I love New England, I love the Southeast. Uh, you know, it's an amazing when you hike at different area because one of the things, I mean, I've written so much about the northwest. Uh, I feel that I'm very, very familiar with it, but when you drop me off in Utah or someplace like that, it's like, it is like being a child again.

Everything is new and sometimes that is very restorative. Yeah. You get into these routines. So again, part of that resolution to kind of get, to try to do something different. Uh, and that might be your reset. Um, because routine's good. It's, it's, it's secure and everything, but then you kind of get into a rut sometimes.

Yep. And for me, that's for growth and discovery. It's going out of my, my, um, comfort zones and out of, out of the familiar. So that's part of what I look at it, and that was the whole idea of the a hundred miler. I never would've thought of that. Uh, years ago I was totally out of my comfort zone and, and it, it seemed crazy.

Um, so, so do it. And, and don't be afraid because if, don't be afraid that if you're not successful in this, the fact that you actually thought outta the box attempted it. That's good. Yeah. And of course there's always another year, right? Yep. So, um, yeah. Yeah. And I think along those lines of what you're saying, Craig, I think that's a great way to think about it too.

Like there's the physical challenge, but there's other kinds of challenge. Mm-hmm. As well. Like where can I go within 30 miles of my house in my geriatric ev. Now I have a long range ev I'm like, oh, this is amazing. Um. But I think I, I talked about in last year's episode about my goal to eventually visit all the state parks in Washington.

Nice. That's a good goal. Um, and so that's another kind of approachable, um, pretty cool. Way to get out there, you know's, gonna get you places. Right. Exactly. It's kind of what we talked about why I'm doing the fifties. It it, it gets you to places that perhaps you might never have gotten to and or if even if you were, it, it, it accelerates the process.

Uh, because again, if we constantly keep saying Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow, it may never come. So general, when you look at resolutions, I mean, we've kind of, we're kind of talking a lot of people. There's always the fitness resolutions too, every year. Yep. And these are some of the biggest failures too. Um, but you gotta be realistic about it too, uh, when you say, all right, so, so, you know, if you're a resolution is to get fit, whatever that means, everyone has a different definition of fitness.

Uh, to me it means just maybe. Getting into a better position, a better place where you are right now. Yeah. But again, you've gotta take, if you're aging, things slow down. So obviously if I had a resolution, I'm gonna run my fastest marathon. That's ridiculous. 'cause that happened, you know, 30 years ago. So, so you have to be realistic and, and, and things like that.

Um, but even just things, alright, so get fit, whatever it means. Here's things, you're eat better. You know, uh, you might wanna be specific too, because when it's, when your gen, you know, generic, you know, general. It's easy to, to skip or, or not, or, or not be on target. Be more spec specific, saying like, I'm going to eliminate this process, food item or something like that.

Yep. And, and, and then I think that's something that's very, very tangible. You come back, you'll notice a difference in how you feel. And, and, and those are very, very realistic. Um, and then other areas, just simple things like, I'm gonna get outside more. Maybe, um, you know, you just felt like you look last year.

You didn't get out and, and maybe it's because your schedule, but maybe it was one of those things, ah, it was kind of a gray day. You chose to stay inside instead, force yourself. These are things too. And set yourself a little goal again, just for you. Don't put it out there on the internet as a contest.

I'm gonna hike 50 hikes this year. Uh, you know, some people are good with that. It pressures them. They, and, and they clear other people. It adds anxiety. We're, we're, um, per, perhaps that's not what you want. You know, you Yeah. You so, so think about that too. Uh, I think health, you know, with a friend, little healthy competition's always fun, but again, you don't want it to be something that's gonna cause anxiety or, or, or stress, because it's kind of counter to the whole idea of a resolution is supposed to be for enrichment, you know?

Totally. To make us better. Um, and then other things too, like, again, trying, I, I said about going to. To different places, but try different things too. Like, uh, hike solo if you've never, always hiked in a group, you know, work out, think about that and prepare. Uh, try backpacking for the first time. If you've never done it, try backpacking solo if you've never done it.

Yeah. Uh, and, you know, pushing it maybe, um, long distance trails. Think about doing a section on the PCT or Yeah. Or, you know, I think it's kind of late now to say, I'm gonna do the PCT. That should be something you should be thinking about for next year. But, um, but again. Again, that could be part of your preparations.

You may wanna try trail running, you may wanna try cross country skiing, snowshoeing. These are all great resolutions. And, and then another thing too that, um, kind of going back to our, we were talking about gratitude and giving back.

Um. Perhaps, you know, you always have gone hiking and met people on the trail working and thought they, they're great, and you thank them. Maybe this is the year you decide I'm gonna be. Part of a trail crew. I'm gonna volunteer on on a crew. Yeah. Or I'm gonna be a, a pica pica watcher, you know, work a lot of these groups, they need people to go out there to, to monitor, um, wildlife, to monitor, uh, land.

We'll talk, we're gonna talk about land trusts. If in a, in a future issue, they need people to, to, uh, go out there on their properties to see things. Yep. These, these are again, all, and they're all, um, resolutions to get you outside more living, healthier, positive, a, a healthier, positive life. Yeah. So. Love it.

Well, happy New Year again, Craig. Yeah, you too, too. I'm excited to see a year from now. Hope this. Yeah. I hope, uh, how we do for everybody out there. Um, yeah. Let's, we're going forward. I hope the 2026 is a great year for all and this is gonna be our third year podcasting together. That's exciting. That's amazing.



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Jennie Thwing Flaming

Host
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Craig Romano

Co-host