Recommendations - books, getting into shape hikes, etc.

[DarinM]

My wife and I want to start hiking. Neither one of us in presently in great shape, but we're working on that, exercising several days per week.

Eventually we'd like to do the big hikes that always come up - the Appalachian and Pacific Crest. But that's for another time.

Wichita isn't so much a place where hiking happens. There's pretty much nothing to see and nowhere to go. We're wanting to find somewhere that we can go and spend maybe 3 or 4 days, with a couple of those days hiking, and increase our distance as we get conditioned.

Any mid-America locations that jump out to any of y'all? The Ozarks are definitely closest to us. I'm not real familiar with them at all, other than I have a fear of hill-folk. Colorado and New Mexico are doable, just the drive-time is a factor we'd have to consider.

Any book recommendations covering hiking throughout the country would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[SWbySWesty]

Wish I could help, but I'm on the coast.

 

[justfred]

Just a suggestion that's worked for me: get a dog that likes to walk. Our dog will happily do 3+ miles a day, and when I get home she nags me till I put on the shoes and take her out. In two years, I haven't lost weight, but my endurance has gone way up, and I'm able to go out every day - sometimes I even look forward to it! The one downside is that there are a lot of trails that don't allow dogs, or require them to be on leash.

My favorite hiking is about as far from you as it is from me: southern Utah. Canyonlands, Arches, Zion, and Bryce all have great hikes, and in the non-summer months the weather is great and the crowds are down. My favorite was The Narrows, at the north end of Zion - you rent some water shoes, and walk up the canyon in the river.

 

[WoldD90]

There are some good apps for your phone... Run Keeper & Polar, both can connect to a heart rate monitor. They also track walking, running, rowing and etc, so you can vary your work outs. Start in your neighborhood and work out a reasonable distance, then every week extend the distance and vary the route.

Get a bike, buy a canoe and start an adventure. With out a plan and goals, you won't go anywhere...

 

[Kiwi-Yank]

justfred got it right.
best way is to pack every day.
i've got a dog that will kill me if i don't walk it daily.
so i throw on an old pack, toss in some weights (20-30 pounds) and I'm off with the mutt.
do it daily, start light and build up.
piece of cake - you are going.
K-Y

 

[DarinM]

We're looking at heading out Labor Day weekend for some camping and hiking to kind of get started. Then for our first anniversary (yay!) we're looking at going to Natural Falls State Park in eastern OK to camp for a long weekend in late October. They have several trails there, also and it should be beautiful that time of year. Thanks for the comments. We presently have 2 dogs - hers before we got together. She's a dog person, I am not. I wouldn't want to take either of these anywhere - although the younger one may be salvageable to be a good hiking buddy once the old one expires. The younger one is basically OK, just dumber than a box of rocks and not very disciplined.

 

[Fresh]

The Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve isn't too far away from Wichita. http://www.nps.gov/tapr/planyourvisit/preserve-backcountry-hiking-trails.htm

It looks like they've got a good selection of hiking trails that wouldn't be too strenuous.

 

[DarinM]

We've looked at Tallgrass - definitely on the list. They don't have camping available directly at the area, but we'll probably do a day trip up that way once the rain stops and it cools off a bit.

 

[Kiwi-Yank]

yeah - Above advice is good.
throw on a pack and walk the dog. it works quite well

K-Y