In the past, I have sometimes felt that I wasn’t a “real” Seniors Outdoors member because I only do the Wednesday Easy Hikes (WEH). Of all of the outings offered, these are the easiest (except maybe for the River Walks in the winter). Before the WEH began, I had some trepidation the night prior to a hike that was new to me. Being relatively new to Durango, that meant most of the hikes. Now I feel almost no concerns before starting a new WEH.

Folks choose these easier hikes for a variety of reasons, most commonly because of age, physical condition, and pre or post surgery. While we are less likely to have lots of rocks to scale, we may well have long, and even fairly steep, inclines to climb. Our pace is slower than the Wednesday Wanderers but we usually hike about 3 miles. We have had anywhere from 3 to 18 participants each outing.

On a recent hike to Tripp Gulch, we were faced with a choice of crossing a creek that had washed out the culvert we had planned to walk across or returning the way we had come. We all agreed that we would move forward. Some hikers found a precarious crossing a little upstream but most of us climbed down 5 or 6 feet (well above my less than 5 foot height), crossed the stream, and up again. We all made it unscathed and happy that we were out in nature.

As a result, I feel I have earned the right to really be in SO! I look forward to our next outing. I’m pleased that SO! provides such a wide variety of activities and levels of activities to accommodate so many people. Keep it up!