Like me, I’m sure you’ve enjoyed hiking with your Mom. My parents introduced me to the outdoors and let me spend my childhood playing in it. I have many fond memories of hikes with Mom, including beach walks where we collected sponges and seashells, and a wild scramble through mountain laurel and rhododendron last spring at Kalamia Gardens in South Carolina.
With Mother’s Day coming up, the good folks at Clif Bar have reached out to me to sponsor a contest. They’d like you to share some of their protein-packed chocolate-flavored energy bars with your active Mom.
It’s simple: before April 21, in the comments of this blog post, leave a short memory of your best hike ever with your Mom. One post per person. I’ll choose three great stories and Clif Bar will send you a prize pack in plenty of time for Mother’s Day so you can reward her for her active life…or just say thanks!
Be sure to include your email address (not in the body of the post, but when posting) so I can connect the prize winners with the folks from Clif Bar.
Do be sure to post your comments on the blog, not Facebook, so I can read them as I’m hiking the AT. Thanks, and I look forward to learning about your great hikes with Mom!
My mother became very interested in hiking after she discovered geocaching, an activity in which one uses a GPS to find “hidden treasure” typically located in wooded areas. At first, she had to drag me out to the woods to get me to hike with her, but after this one hike in particular I became an avid hiker myself.
My mother decided to take my brother, my sister, and myself to Wiregrass Prairie Preserve—an isolated preserve located near Lake Ashby in Osteen, Florida. It was there that my love of hiking blossomed. At the mouth of the trail lay a dead wild boar which immediately piqued my interest since a dead, massive wild animal had never been that close to me before. The excitement of the boar wore off a bit as we continued to walk, but we then stumbled upon a pit of mud. “Take off your shoes!” my mom called to my sister, my brother, and I as we happily charged toward the extensive mud puddle. Our ages were three, seven, and nine respectively, so it was in our nature to be truly delighted upon seeing a mud pit!
After splashing around in the mud for a good thirty minutes, we resumed our hike and completed the 2.5 mile trail. I have never once complained about hiking with my mother after that day because I discovered that, even though I am not half as inclined to splash around in a mud puddle these days, hiking can be a very enjoyable experience.
My mom is the fabulous “eArThworm” — hiker and trail-builder extraordinaire!! She started hiking about 25 years ago, but even back then, I wasn’t in very good shape – especially on land (I’m more of a ‘marine mammal’). Nevertheless, I agreed to hike a small part of the Appalachian Trail with Mom in November 1988. We drove to Newfound Gap to leave the car in the parking lot. I knew immediately upon exiting the vehicle that this wasn’t going to be easy for me! It was freezing. There were icicles. I was ABOVE sea level. Right before we hit the trail, the weather did something I’d never seen — Mom called it “raining”, but I had seen rain — this was “sleeting”, but she didn’t want me to give up! Mom was actually backpacking, with all our stuff on her back. I had a tiny book-bag with a peanut butter sandwich & an apple. The weight of my little pack was so great, I soon had to eat the sandwich & apple, and have Mom put the book bag in her backpack! Did I mention she’s a great Mom? I was so proud of her, walking upright, up the side of a mountain, with all that weight. I kept admiring her strength and happiness. I was 24 & had never been as impressed with my Mother as I was that day, as I slowly crawled up the mountain, on All Fours, behind her. Although I have only done short Florida hikes with Mom since that time, I remain to this day so proud to be the daughter of My Mom – The eArThworm!
About 15 years ago, I went hiking for the first time in the remote wilderness near Stehekin, WA. My daughter was about 10 years old, and my husband’s parents and sister came to share the experience. We packed in all our food, and went on fabulous day hiking adventures. Being a suburban gal, the beautiful of the Northwest trails amazed me, and we happily conquered each trail head with gusto. At the end of the day, though, my energy ran out. My sister-in-law, Lori was the family athlete and remained on the trail for an hour or two after my husband, daughter, father-in-law and I returned home. To my amazement, however, Joanne, in her 70′s at the time, was the all-time winner. With hiking poles in hand, she returned at the very tail end of the day, totally invigorated by the peaks she had scaled. Hats off to my mother-in-law, for introducing me in the best way possible to hiking. The bonus? Now I am part of a three generation family business, happily showing folks the thrill of hiking through extraordinary places.