Let's get pointless
I haven’t had a pointless challenge out in front of me for a while now and so I decided to activate a little idea that I have had rolling around my brain for a few years now. As you know, I live in a pretty fabulous spot on the planet known as Fort Collins, Colorado. Nestled against the Eastern Front Range of the Rocky Mountains we have a mixture of hills, plains, lakes and ponds, a couple rivers, lots of trails, and many, many regional parks and open spaces. It’s special to me because it’s my hometown of course, but more importantly, every time I get outside to play (canoe, hike, hunt, bike, fly kites, etc.) I am reminded of just how special and beautiful a place it is and how getting outside always lifts my spirits.
The challenge is simple – get outside, move around, and visit every park in our county
Typically my outdoor challenges are big and audacious and often include multi-day, hundred plus mile canoe journeys, or something that involves a great deal of personal suffering…this will not be that kind of challenge. It’s a bit more down to earth for a reason, river trips take planning, my body hurts a lot when I get home, it takes me away from family, and it’s hard to do with consistency. So instead of a huge challenge this year I am challenging myself to do a bunch of small and accessible challenges strung together into a huge goal.
I plan to visit then walk, run, rollerblade, or bike all of the parks, open space areas, and trails in our extensive trail system. I am going to start with the Fort Collins Natural Areas and the Larimer County Open Space Parks and then throw in some random places as they make sense. I am not putting an end date on this project or too many rules, I just want to make steady progress towards this fairly big goal, get outside, and have a bit of fun in the outdoors.
I plan to visit then walk, run, rollerblade, or bike all of the parks, open space areas, and trails in our extensive trail system. I am going to start with the Fort Collins Natural Areas and the Larimer County Open Space Parks and then throw in some random places as they make sense. I am not putting an end date on this project or too many rules, I just want to make steady progress towards this fairly big goal, get outside, and have a bit of fun in the outdoors.
Rules for this challenge include:
- I cannot use a motorized form of propulsion
- I can visit a park at any time of day or night
- I need to pick off at least two parks or areas a month
- I must post at least one picture from each trip
- To count an area “finished” I need to hit every major trail in the park, for city parks I will count a circumnavigation as “done”.
- Anyone can join, family, friends, whoever.
It’s not as small a challenge as I originally thought
The more I have begun to look at the reality of this challenge, the more I realize that I have a lot of time in the outdoors ahead. Because our city and town invest so many resources in preservation of open space, and everyone is pretty active, there are hundreds of trail miles out in front of me right now.
Highlights include:
Highlights include:
- Larimer County Open Space System – 81 miles
- Fort Collins Bike Trails – 36 miles
- Parks and Open Spaces – Undetermined but a LOT
I hope you find some inspiration in this pointless challenge
Fort Collins is not so dissimilar to YOUR hometown and so anyone can take on a crazy challenge like this to get to know your hometown a bit better. If you look around you all of the amenities we have in Colorado that I mentioned above, maybe minus a 14,000 foot peak or two, exist where you are – regardless of if you live in the Midwest, the plains, an island, or on the coast. In fact when I lived in Ohio I found lots of places to “get my outdoors on” without any mountains, microbreweries, and accoutrements that come with the Colorado lifestyle. I remember fondly cross country skiing and mountain biking on the east side of Alum Creek Reservoir, canoeing the river below that same dam or on any of number of local rivers in central Ohio, hiking in the Hocking Hills, biking along the Olentangy River Trail, and the list goes on and on – there are beautiful places everywhere you just need to get off the couch and out of your car.
More to come, stay tuned to the blog for pictures and updates.
More to come, stay tuned to the blog for pictures and updates.