December 2017: A Note From Diane

December greetings to you!

All kinds of holidays (and cookies, or is that just me?) tug attention away from the trail this month. I’ll keep it short so you can get back to your holiday plans, both indoor and outdoors (bring cookies).

New Exclusive Hiking For Her Giveaway

Before you get distracted with your to do list, use this link to sign up for the January 2018 Hiking For Her giveaway.

You’ll need this password: mugarama

That’s also a little hint: what you may win goes well with cookies!

{Okay, I'll stop now.}

Free Guided New Year’s Day Hikes

Nothing feels better than getting out into the fresh air on a winter hike on January 1st!

Last year, hikers logged 133,000+ miles on the first day of the year in state parks. If you care to join them this year, use this link to find a participating state park near you.

New Mileage Tracking App

As you’re welcoming in the new year with a hike, you can log your mileage with Let’s Walk, an iOS application with social features and hike reviews from other hikers.

If you already own a Fitbit, you don’t need this. But if you’d like an efficient way to record how much 2018 mileage you wrack up (and calories burned, although I am not mentioning cookies), give this free, fun phone app a try.

FHFH took an initial look at it and liked it. Watch for an in depth review soon.

Let me know how it works for you if you test it!

Hot Spots & LNT

Leave No Trace, a set of ethical hiking behaviors, is near and dear to our hiking hearts.

The Hot Spot program focuses each year on restoring (or attempting to restore) areas damaged by a lack of LNT love.

And I do mean focus: expert consultations, site-specific training for volunteers, education programs for both youth and adults, service projects you can join, monitoring initiatives to determine recovery, and a lot more.

So if you’re looking for a way to give back and bring back damaged outdoor areas using LNT principles, the link below takes you to a pdf map of the 2018 Hot Spots: 20 sites, scattered across the U.S., and hopefully one near you.

Not sure about LNT?

Brand New HFH Pages For You

Hiking nutrition and cold weather hiking safety tips flowed out of the keyboard this month.

And, a few new HFH infographics to pin, if you’re a Pinterest-er.

Stay fueled, stay warm, stay safe!

Crave Fresh Snow For Your Christmas Day Hike?

Then you’ll need this fun map from NOAA (the U.S. National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration).

See at a glance the probability of snowfall in your location, based on historical weather records.

To interpret the map, use this color key: dark gray = no snowfall; blue = some snow; white = high probability of frozen water falling on you as you hike.

It also works the other way around, for snow avoidance :)

One Last Tidbit: Birders Only

If spending a few days birding with David Sibley (yes, that Sibley) sounds like heaven, be sure to enter for your chance to jet off to Freeport, Maine to enjoy a birding weekend with an expert.

Song Sleuth, a phone app which makes bird identification on the trail easy, is sponsoring the sweepstakes to mark the release of a new, improved version.

To sweeten the experience (if personal time with David isn't enough), the winner will receive a $1,000 personal shopper experience at L.L.Bean’s Maine flagship store!

New Year's Wish For You

Thanks so much for reading this newsletter! I love writing it each month, with high hopes that you will find a tidbit or two that you can use on the trail.

May the upcoming months of 2018 bring you nothing but blue skies and happy trails, or at least your fair share of them.

I hope to hear from you in the new year! Your comments, suggestions and ideas are always welcomed and appreciated.

And a note just to say hi? Makes my whole day brighter!!

Happy Trails always, in all ways,

Diane a.k.a. Happy Hiker

diane@hiking-for-her.com

Stop by these HFH pages for a little hiking inspiration! Likes, comments and shares are always appreciated.

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