I belong to some meet up groups here where I live and I try to go every week or so to a longish (5 - 10 mile or 8 to 16 km) hike with a group. There are always new and not so new people to hike with. I even go on 8 mile hikes with a group in the park 5 minutes from my house.
Now that Winter is here, hiking takes on a new dimension. You have to prepare for the cold but then you do not need to worry about insects making your day miserable. Any hike where the temperature is higher than 20 degress F (-7 C) can be comfortably done as long as you wear layers and prepare both for the cold and the fact that you will warm up pretty quickly as you go up and down hills. When the weather gets to say 40 degrees F (5 C) , I really only need to wear a few light layers and usually remove one layer, my hat and my gloves.
Long hikes are physically demanding, and I generally do a half hour stretching focused Yoga routine soon afterwards. This routine works the lower and middle back, quadriceps , hamstrings and shoulders. It is great to release your muscles from the work that they did that day. Combining the two activities of hiking and yoga are (for me) one of the best ways to stay in shape. I get a ton of cardiovascular exercise and I get the streteching I need to keep my muscles flexible.
I was on a 9.1 (15km) mile moderate difficulty hike (some small hills to climb) recently At the end of the hike, one person commented that her calculator said she consumed 1200 calories. What a great and fun way to stay in shape.
Namaste..
