Taking to the Trails

For several years now, I've spent almost every Monday morning in a way that sets the tone for the rest of the week. From 8:30 to 10:00, I join a stalwart crew of women for class at Woodland Yoga, where our teacher Ellie Randazzo leads us through backbends, standing poses, inversions, and an assortment of other asanas with names that all sound the same to me. After class comes breakfast at Hit the Road Joe Coffee Café, where we all catch up on developments in one another's lives and share information we've gleaned in the past week about cool things to do, books to read, movies to watch and anything else that’s crossed our minds. 

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​No matter how I feel when I wake up on a Monday morning, I'm always uplifted and ready to take on the world (or at least my small part of it) after that session of physical, spiritual and social activity.

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​Now, I've found the perfect end-of-week bookend for my start-the-week routine: a Friday afternoon women's hiking club. It's a club in the loosest sense of the word—no dues, matching outfits, or other requirements—and that suits me fine. It's just a group of women who get together once a week to explore Newaygo County's trails and appreciate its natural assets.

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​Avid outdoorswomen and longtime friends Peg Mercer and Mary Papes started the club several months ago, inspired by hiking and biking clubs in Arizona.

"Mary and I were in awe of the opportunities they had created and felt like we could do the same in Newaygo County," says Peg, who traces her interest in outdoor activities to childhood, "living in the farm fields of Alpine Township, where we biked all over the neighborhood—to my grandma's house three miles away, to the local party store for penny candy—and walked long distances to friends' houses."

Peg

Mary

Peg and Mary, who have also backpacked with a group of local women, invited friends and neighbors to join them on their Friday outings, and they encouraged those women to invite others. 

Peg on a woodland walk

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​"It has been a heartfelt pleasure to meet so many active women right in our own area," says Peg. "I look forward to the friends who have  yet to come in our pathways."

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​From the outset, the idea was to make it easy for people to participate (or not), as schedules allow. On Thursdays, Peg and Mary send out texts and emails announcing where the hike will be, and anyone who's free can just show up ready to hike a route that one of the leaders has scouted in advance. 

​​​Many of the hikes follow segments of the North Country Trail, a 4,600-mile path that extends from New York to North Dakota, with a swath that cuts through Michigan from the Ohio border in the south, upward through the Lower Peninsula, into the Upper Peninsula and across to the northern Wisconsin border. A long stretch of the trail crosses Newaygo County and is easily accessible at several points (including one that's minutes from my house!).

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​In addition to hiking segments of the North Country Trail, the Friday group—as yet unnamed—has also taken walks at Loda Lake Wildflower Sanctuary, Branstrom Park, Marshall Memorial Park, Newaygo Riverside Park and Coolbaugh Natural Areas, all right here in Newaygo County.

Kathy leads the group along a trail at Coolbaugh Natural Areas (Photo by Peg Mercer)

Peggy S., Peg M., Mary, Kathy and Beth at Marshall Park

The North Country Trail takes us through forests and glades

Mary Ellen and Linda

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​"One of the things I like best about this club is that we're introducing people—even some who've lived here for years—to places they've never been," says Mary, a 41-year resident of Newaygo who has hiked in Michigan's Porcupine Mountains, the Colorado Rockies, Utah's Canyonlands, the Santa Ritas and Sedona in Arizona and most recently the Ozarks in Missouri.

An afternoon on the trail

​​Though I've been on most of the trails we've covered so far, I'm learning about new-to-me parts of those trails and connections between trails that I'd heard about or seen on maps but quite figured out how to navigate. Peg makes a point of noting landmarks and access points so we hikers can find our way on our own on return visits.

​​Some hikes include optional kayaking afterward, and women from the group have gotten together for bicycling on other days. 

Karen, Eileen, Linda, Angela, Mary and me on the North Country Trail. Color coordination unintentional (so they claim). (Photo by Peg Mercer)

I had read about hiking clubs and walking clubs in other parts of the country and always wanted to be part of one. So when my neighbor Sally told me about this club, I was excited to join. So far, I've been on six hikes, with groups ranging in size from four to thirteen. On every hike I've known at least one other person (several of the Monday yoga women are also Friday hiking women now), but I've also met a dozen strong, interesting women I hadn't known before.

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Taking a break on a North Country Trail hike

​And because the group values the getting-to-know-you aspect at least as much as the getting-fit aspect, chatting is not only permitted, it's encouraged. (One particularly apt name suggested for the club is the "Walkie Talkies.") Every time we pause to stretch or take a breather, the pack reshuffles and conversation partners change. While walking through groves of pines and glades of ferns, I've been enlightened on everything from cake decorating to the origins of pickle ball to what to do if you meet a bear.

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​Now, at the beginning of every week, I find myself wondering not only what challenging poses Ellie will lead us through and what we'll discuss at Hit the Road Joe, but also where the Friday hike will go, who I'll get to know better as we walk and talk and what I'll learn in the process.

​What ways have you found of combining favorite activities with friendship? ​

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