#HealthyMe: Hiking, an Unintentional Workout
Mike Miller
| 2 min read
Our recent trip to Michigan’s upper peninsula was full of activity and exploration. It was an opportunity to discover some of Michigan’s not so hidden, yet often overlooked attractions. White water rafting, biking the Marquette Marathon route, the U.P. State Fair, Pictured Rocks and the Soo Locks are all extremely cool and things I had never experienced.
I have to admit, though, that I overlooked and underestimated one of our activities in many ways: hiking.
On what was supposed to be our “chill-out” day, we found ourselves hiking through the dense forest known as the Chapel Basin, surrounding the Pictured Rocks. Upon arriving at the small, remote parking area, we decided to head out for Mosquito Falls and then soldier on further to the Rocks. The hike to Mosquito Falls was a mere ¾ of a mile and the remaining hike to the cliffs was roughly another mile and a half.
We had an interview scheduled later in the afternoon, so we decided to get as far as we could and then turn around. “This will be quick,” I thought, figuring we’d make it all the way to the Pictured Rocks and back in no time.
The trail started off innocently enough, but before long we found ourselves climbing up and up a steeper path covered in a tangled mess of tree roots. The winding, ascending path became increasingly more difficult to travel. I was sweating my brains out.
As it turns out, hiking is quite the workout.
Checking the time, I discovered we’d been hiking for an hour and had just then made it to Mosquito Falls. We needed to turn around if we wanted to make our interview on time. Hiking back out, and downhill, was a bit easier but still required a fair amount of effort getting back out. After two hours of hiking I was pretty spent.
So much for a relaxing day, but what a great way to get in a killer workout, and spend some time exploring Michigan. I think I just might load up my backpack and hit a few more trails soon!
Photo credit: Adam Bautz
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