Good Evening All!
So this will be our first post of 2021. We had gone on another hiatus, beginning around Thanksgiving. At the January Board Meeting, we decided to resume our hikes beginning Saturday January 23rd. To celebrate our ability to get together again, we decided to kick things off with a blitz weekend.
What is a blitz weekend? The blitz was a weekend where we tried to get as many of our leaders as possible to lead hikes so that we could get as many hikers in the club out at the same time. This was an idea originally conceived to replace our Christmas party since large groups weren’t possible at the time. Since we couldn’t congregate, the concept of getting folks out and doing what we do best all at the same time seemed an appropriate alternative. We had several hikes happening at once from the desert areas near the Ojito up into the snowy Sandias. Now, we are getting back to our usual activities, following proper COVID guidelines in the process.
But first! A brief look back at what we did do in 2020:
We spent a lot of of the year out of commission due to various spikes in infections and hospitalizations related to coronavirus. We hiked from January 1st to February 19th and then entered our first closure. We didn’t resume hikes again until June 22nd. Hiking was back to normal, with new restrictions in place to stay safe and follow the orders of the Governor, until November 15th, when we ceased activities once more. We remained on hiatus until the aforementioned blitz weekend.
Some quick stats for the year:
Total Hikes: 125
Virtual Events (not including Meetings): 7
Total Leaders: 33
This was the first year counting mileage and elevation gain, so we didn’t get the numbers for every single hike
Hike Mileage Reported: 283.3
Hike Elevation Gain: 59,097 feet
We visited 8 wilderness areas as part of that challenge
We visited 4 of the peaks from the peak prominence challenge
So, now we enter 2021. With infections and hospitalizations going down, and vaccinations going up, we are cautiously optimistic as we begin getting outside together again. To the extent that we can, we hope to start over and pursue our challenges again throughout the year. As the outings chair, I will be working with leaders to increase activity, though I am not pressuring anyone to do so that doesn’t feel comfortable with it yet. Likewise, we hope you get out with us this year, but we also respect your decision to do otherwise. Whatever you choose to do, enjoy yourselves and be safe out there!
Happy Trails!
