The quickest way to get started in the wilderness is to grab a pair of shoes with good tread and head out the door. It is (almost) that simple to get started. Hiking is one of the most accessible activities and requires the least gear to get started. There are plenty of urban trails to be found, and in areas like our home state of Colorado, you’re never more than 20 minutes from a trailhead.
If you are uneasy setting out on your own, grab a friend and set out together. There are also lots of social groups eager to take you out exploring. Our favorite in Colorado Springs is a non-profit called UpaDowna. They’ll take you out to try all sorts of new activities.
There are all sorts of ways to start exploring. Here are a few of our suggestions:
Find a Trail
There are a variety of apps and websites that can point you to the nearest trailheads. One of my personal favorites is the Hiking Project App. Once loaded on your phone, it automatically detects your location and shows you nearby trails. The trails are color-coded, similar to what you might find on the ski slopes: greens are easy, blues are moderately challenging, and blacks are difficult.
When you click on a trail, it gives you more information about the length of the trail, the elevation gain, a brief description (if available), and a link to open the map application on your phone for driving directions to reach the trial. Alie and I use this app often when visiting new areas.
Hiking Project also has a sister app called the Mountain Biking Project. If you are heading out on two wheels, I suggest checking it out. Best of all, both these apps are free to download and use!
Pack for your Trip
It should go without saying that day trips are different than multi-day backpacking trips. It makes sense to pack appropriately for your destination and the length of time that you will be out. Visiting a local open space or regional park? A good pair of shoes, a hydration pack, a snack, and the appropriate apparel for the weather will likely be all you need to have an enjoyable outing.
Longer trips or visits to more remote trails require you to carry more gear and plan for the just-in-case scenarios. Outside of town, we always carry a multi-tool and bear spray for the rare instance you encounter any not-so-friendly wildlife.
Starting out is simple and fun. Just don’t forget the sunscreen!
Share with your friends!
Once you start getting outside, start sharing your adventures with your friends. Suddenly, you might find that your friends have similar interests. Alie and I often invite our friends on adventures with us. When we invite them to come, we really want to go out to explore with them!
It might seem like an offer to go on an outdoor adventure with your friend might not be a legitimate offer. Or, maybe you feel like you would be holding your friends back if you tagged along with them if you aren’t good at the activity yet.
It’s a fair question, but there is a pretty simple way to know if a friend truly wants to take you outdoors without any concerns you might hold them back.
Offering once is polite. However, if your friend offers multiple times, they really do want to take you on an adventure so you can share the experience together! My rule has been to say yes if someone invites me out. It has changed my life for the best.
We have taken our friends on a slew of adventures. We’ve taught friends how to snowboard, backpack, mountain bike, climb 14ers (like in this picture), and other various activities. We’ve helped them learn how to adventure safely, especially when it comes to reading the weather; it’s always important to know when the thunderstorm is too close for comfort. We’ve even taught our friends seemingly simple tasks like how to set up a tent or use a multitool.
Although we might chuckle in the moment, we always help our friends learn these skills. Then, one day down the line, we will be sitting around the campfire laughing together about the time you couldn’t figure out how to use a multitool or the time you thought you were going to drown in two feet of water when all you needed to do was stand up. All shared, of course, over a tin cup of whiskey. Those moments make the best memories and the funniest stories.
Planning for What’s Next
The more you get outside, the more you start to notice other ways you can enjoy the outdoors. When I was a child I remember going fishing in a creek in Indiana, hiking the deserts of Southern Arizona, and traveling to Mt. Lemmon to go sledding in the snow. All pretty modest outdoor activities.
Over the years, I acquired more gear, tried new sports, and took up camping as a way to become more immersed in nature. To this day, hiking is still one of the most common activities we enjoy. Our dogs are almost always able to tag along. Even if you are recovering from paddling down class III whitewater, or riding 25K vertical feet on a snowboard, whiskey is the best form of recovery.
Visiting new places exposed me to more ways to enjoy the outdoors. I hope to share our experience and lessons we have learned along the way to inspire similarly minded people to get outside. There are opportunities to meet new people, engage in new activities, and challenge oneself as your skills and knowledge improve. All you have to do is get started! Grab your shoes and find a trail.
Happy exploring!
