Make a List, and Hike It Twice
Alexandra & Sage Herr, The Granite Gals
Credit: The Granite Gals, Sage (L) and Alexandra (R) Herr
Today I’m turning the spotlight on two amazing young women who are the future - and for that matter, the present - of White Mountain hiking.
Alexandra and Sage Herr, aka 'The Granite Gals', and their mom Trish, are rock stars of the New Hampshire hiking community. You might guess that it was because Trish was an avid hiker in her youth, but apparently that wasn’t the case. Instead, an overactive 5 year old Alex drove Trish into the woods, looking for an outlet that would bring some quiet and peace while dissipating some of Alex’s energy.
By August 2009, at the ripe old age of 6, Alex had hiked all 48 of New Hampshire’s 4000 footers, and her little sister, Sage, was gearing up to start her own 4000 footer list.
Trish, Alex and Sage subsequently embarked on several thru-hiking trips, both domestic and international, over school vacations, in many cases using them as fundraisers for non-profits close to their hearts, such as GirlVentures and FeedingAmerica. Their advocacy continues even while they’ve been more singularly focused on completing their Grid lately; almost every trip report they each write for their respective blogs starts with a mention and link to the Union of Concerned Scientists, a group that both are passionate about supporting.
This dynamic mother/daughter trio are also the creators of the Terrifying 25 list, found in the so-called 'bucket' of many a White Mountain hiker, and Alex recently created another great list for aspiring young adventurers, the 13 Before 13.
I love these words of wisdom from Alex and Sage’s mom, Trish, which I pulled down from a blog post from 2010. She said: “Once in a while, someone writes me and asks, "How do you get your kids to hike?" My answer? I don't. They hike because they want to. If they don't want to, then we don't go. Or, as was the case today, if they start out wanting to, and then they change their minds halfway up the mountain, we turn back. I don't believe in taking a kid up a mountain unless that kid really and truly wants to get up that mountain.”
“If the hike ain't happy then the hike ain't happenin'.”
There’s a HUGE lesson there for all of us. When you are outside, or moving your body, are you doing it in a way that makes you happy? Are we doing things that bring us joy? Are we listening to our bodies or minds when they tell us we’ve had enough, it’s time to turn back, or we can maybe push ourselves just a tiny bit more? Do we grant ourselves those tiny wishes and desires in our souls, when they’re brave enough to enter our consciousness?
With all that’s going on in our nation and the world, I think it’s a great time to re-center ourselves and pay closer attention to what our bodies and souls are telling us. Mindfulness is not a bunch of hoo-ey; while it’s very tempting right now to do things that dull our consciousness and block out the sights and sounds and senselessness, that’s not a great approach for the long-game...
Instead, let’s all make an extra effort to find pockets of quiet. Put down your phone, turn off all the noise and distractions, and spend some time listening and getting to know yourself again. Breathe, stretch, move, and reconnect.
Because guess what? When you take care of yourself like this, the people around you notice. Your friends will notice. If you have kids, daughters, they’ll notice. And maybe they’ll realize that keeping tabs on themselves and prioritizing their well being is not selfish, but sustaining. And they just might want to join you on your next hike…
The Granite Gals shared all kinds of good stuff in this interview, enjoy!: