If you’ve ever started the year saying, “We should hike more,” and then blinked and it’s suddenly summer… you’re not alone.
That’s why I decided to do the 52 hikes in 52 weeks challenge with my family.
We aren’t doing it to be the most hardcore peakbagging family. We’re doing it to spend more time together. It’s about building a system that makes hiking part of the routine — so by the end of the year, we’ll have completed 52 hikes in one year.
In this post, I’ll show you how to approach the 52 hikes challenge in a way that’s realistic for real life, busy schedules, and families — and how using a 52 hikes tracker can make the entire thing 10x easier.
If your goal is simply to hike more consistently as a family, we have a post for that, too!
The 52 hikes in 52 weeks challenge is simple:
It’s a commitment to doing one hike per week for a year. For my family, we have 2 young toddlers, age 2 and 3, so it sometimes feels impossible. But that’s the good part about this challenge.
There’s no strict mileage requirement. No “it only counts if it’s a mountain summit.” No pressure to make every hike a production.
The genius of the challenge is that it matches the rhythm of real life, and accomplishes the main goal of getting our family outside on the trails.
By December, the goal isn’t to just have “hiked more”… it’s to build a healthy lifestyle pattern.
For my family, there are two F’s that make it hard to follow through.
1: Friction. Kids are in a bad mood. We don’t have good hiking snacks. We left a shoe at walmart. The weather’s not great. Can’t decide where to go. etc. This problem is solved by preparation and planning. we chose a specific day every week to be our hiking day, (Tuesday). Having it on the schedule makes it easier to follow through.
2: Forgetting. By adding “Family Hike” to the calendar and having it on repeat every single week, we don’t forget anymore. And this F is once again fixed by preparation and planning.
Last year we wanted to hike a lot more, but kept having the above problems pop up. That’s when we decided that we needed to do a better job planning. Not only planning and having it on the calendar, but also having a physical reminder in our faces every week. That’s when my wife decided to make the “52 Hikes a Year” bucket list board, to serve as a constant reminder in our home that we had a goal to get outside more as a family. Check out the 52 Hikes a Year Board Here.
I know all to well that some weeks just get a little insane and it is really, REALLY hard to get the family out on a little hike. So, the rule we follow is that we can miss a week, but we’re not allowed to skip the hike two weeks in a row. This is still pretty challenging when we have back to back crazy weeks, but those are the times when we need a little outside breather more than ever. So it’s important to make it happen, even if it’s a quick little stroll on a local nature trail.
So we don’t expect perfection, but we try to build momentum.
Here’s a simple system that has been working really well for us.
Pick a hike near you that:
Our girls would happily do the same hike every week, over and over. So when life is crazy, we’re not afraid to go back to our standard hike. It’s an easy way to make sure it happens, because it requires a lot less planning and preparation.
Don’t get me wrong, I love exploring new trails and areas, but it’s really nice to have the “go to hike” when we’re in a pinch.
If your weekly hike includes:
…the odds of keeping that up all year are slim to none.
That’s the fastest way to quit.
Instead, define hiking as:
“Any walk outside on a trail or natural area that gets us moving together.”
Short hikes count. Repeat hikes count. Flat hikes count.
The goal is consistency.
To finish 52 hikes in one year, you need flexibility.
Our Backup plans are:
Backup A: The Default Hike
A nice trail alongside a creek about 10 minute drive from our home.
Backup B: The Nature Walk
A paved path near a bird refuge about 5 minutes from our home
Backup C: Around the Block
We haven’t had to use this one yet. But if life gets too crazy, we’ll just grab the stroller and go on a hike around the block to clear our heads and get some fresh air together.
Here’s what most people don’t realize:
The next huge obstacle, however, will be if your goal is invisible and you forget about it.
If your 52 hikes challenge is only written in your phone… you may not remember it. It may get buried in your notes along with a lot of other ambitions or plans you thought you had.
But when your progress is visible every day, hiking becomes part of your environment.
A 52 hikes tracker works because it:
It’s the same reason people stick with habits better when they see a streak or scoreboard.
Except this one looks awesome in your home and becomes part of the family story.
If you have kids, here’s the trick:
Make it something they feel ownership over.
Try this:
When kids participate in the progress tracking, the challenge becomes a game.
My answer to that is, what is your purpose in doing the challenge? If your goal is to experience crazy new views and hikes you’ve never seen, then feel free to not count walks around the block. My goal with my family is to spend more time together outside, so I say it counts!
It happens. Life happens. Remember why you’re doing this and carry on!
The best part about the 52 hikes challenge isn’t the number.
It’s what it creates:
If you want a simple way to stay consistent all year long, the easiest step is making the goal physical and visible.
Because when progress is right in front of you, the next hike becomes a lot easier to say yes to.
If you’re here, you’ve probably heard of the 1000 hours outside challenge, and your first thought might be: “That sounds super cool… and super impossible.”
If you’ve ever started the year saying, “We should hike more,” and then blinked and it’s suddenly summer… you’re not alone. That’s why I decided
