Why am I Doing This?

In order to understand why I have decided to take up the hobby of hiking I must first explore what brought me here. I think I have always loved nature, I just didn't know it. I grew up in a major city in Florida. While Florida is known for its beautiful beaches, the rest is quite boring. The state is flat, hot, and not much to explore. My eyes were opened to the beauty of the world when I moved to Kentucky but I didn't really get to explore the great out doors. It was ironically when I moved to the second largest metropolitan area in the United States that I found myself being called to the outdoors.

I moved to Pasadena in August 2011. I got a job at the local Barnes and Noble and school began short after. My free time was quickly eaten up between school and work. One morning I had to get up at 5:30 to go to work. I turned on the t.v. while I drank coffee and ate breakfast. The only thing that was not an infomercial was an episode of "Motion" on the livewell network. It was the Glacier National Park episode where the father and daughter joined the host in the Rocky Mountains of Montana. Here is a link to the specific episode. http://livewellnetwork.com/Motion/episodes/Glacier-National-Park-Guest-Hike/8353304 I was blown away by how beautiful the scenery looked. Later that day I stood at the Nook counter at work thinking to myself about how stunning of an experience that must have been for those hikers. How life changing it must have been. I wanted that. I wanted to be overrun with emotions at the sight of God's creation. I couldn't do that in downtown Pasadena. I had to go out and explore.

I began asking my friends about going on hikes and before the year was up I hiked half way through the local Eaton Canyon trail. We only got half way through because the winds were so bad (this was right after the Santa Anita wind storms of 2011) that dust was being thrown in our faces. 2012 came and I made a promise that I would hike more this year. I did do that because I went back and finished Eaton Canyon. That is technically more than the previous year but my thirst was not satisfied. I wanted to go more.

Recently I went to Joshua Tree National Park. I will save that experience for my next blog because it was this event that made me addicted to the outdoors. I need to get out and explore this beautiful world. I will not be contained by the concrete zoo of Los Angeles.