We all like to think we can do more than our body will allow us to; it’s only human nature.
But there comes a time when you have to know your limit lies and not go past it. Because if you do, it might land you in some serious trouble.
I remember how I used this mentality in many ways when The Hiking Society was a MeetUp group between 2016-2018 and then an adventure company from 2019-2021.
To start with, it has a lot to do with the way I positioned the group and company – making it easier to get into the outdoors. This was essentially my approach.
Granted there were hikes of all different difficulties to cater for all levels of experiences that The Hiking Society attracted, but this was our “motto”.
There were groups out there, and I imagine there still are today, that only offer short-distance hikes and some who only host long-distance hikes.
Furthermore, some preferred to stick to significantly harder hikes, while others will only host easy hikes.
I believe there is a market for each and every one of those groups because some people only prefer to do one type of hike.
I wanted people to ensure that everyone of all experiences had access to our hikes. Again, back to our “motto”. We really had something for everyone and I truly believe that’s why both iterations of The Hiking Society were as successful as they were.
Secondly, I use this mentality when I would do a write-up for an upcoming hike.
The last thing I want someone to do is to come along underprepared and ill-informed about what they were in for. That’s just a recipe for a disaster.
In saying that, the odd instance would come up where people simply didn’t read the description because they were keen to get on a hike. This was often the case with most who were new to hiking.
And this would happen because we only ever allowed a ratio of 1:10 on our hikes. During our MeetUp days, this would then create waitlists of 10-20 people or more looking to get on a hike.
That is why I tried to include as much information about the hike as I possibly could. Is it hard? Is it easy? Are there hills? If so, do they occur regularly?
In saying that, there is an onus on each and every one of those people contemplating coming on a hike to have enough self-awareness about their own physical abilities.
And, this obviously comes into play if you are going on a hike by yourself.
In short, we all want to try and better ourselves for a variety of reasons. When it comes to hiking, if you want to go on that long-distance hike, but feel you aren’t quite ready, then don’t go. It’s really not worth it.
I believe the best advice I can give to you is to work up to it. If you are hell-bent on that long-distance hike, you’ll find the time to go on regular short hikes and eventually you will get to the level you need to be to do it.
