Looking Back at 2022 — Recapping the Year

At the beginning of 2022, I decided I wanted to challenge myself to get outside and explore more. As a goal-oriented person, I decided to define this challenge into very specific boxes I could check off. In retrospect, some of these goals were far heftier than I originally realized, and while I did not complete most of these goals, I am proud of the effort that I put into trying. Check out the recaps of each 2022 goal below:

1. Visit 4 New National Parks

Despite not meeting the intended goal of four national parks in one year, I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity I had to cross two of the big ones off my list. We started off strong in January with a visit to Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park where my partner and I hiked an erupting volcano! This was by far one of the coolest (or hottest) experiences of 2022 — and quite possibly my life so far. We ventured to Colorado for our next national park where we found ourselves caught in a lightning storm in Rocky Mountain National Park. Definitely the most terrifying experience of 2022 — would highly recommend doing your research on the weather in the mountains before starting your hike. While these were the only two official national parks I was able to visit, I was able to explore two national forests, a national memorial and a national lakeshore this year. I hiked in Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest and White River National Forest, visited Pearl Harbor National Memorial and camped at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.

I realize that visiting four national parks seems like a pretty easy feat for most adventurers, but remember, national parks aren’t equally accessible to everyone. As a Wisconsin-based traveler, the nearest national park is hours away and across two state borders. Nonetheless, I am grateful for the experiences I was able to have this year and am looking forward to more in 2023.

2. Visit 3 New States

This is a goal I am proud to say I have completed! This year I was able to extensively explore Hawaii and Colorado and breached the border into Wyoming for a quick visit as well. I was also able to thoroughly explore Michigan as well which was previously just a drive-through state for me. All in all, I had some pretty wild experiences in all of these states. Check out some of the highlights below:

3. Check all 3 National Lakeshores off your bucket list

A few years ago, I visited the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore in northern Wisconsin for the first time. I had no idea there was such a beautiful destination in Wisconsin and was blown away that this wasn’t considered an official national park. That’s when I decided to visit the other national lakeshores to see if they were also mind-blowing. There are three total: Apostle Islands, Sleeping Bear Dunes and Pictured Rocks. This year, I was able to explore Sleeping Bear Dunes for a few days over Memorial Day weekend, and it was beautiful. The scenery reminded me of Indiana Dunes National Park, but with more impressive dunes. I wasn’t able to visit Pictured Rocks this year, but I’m hoping 2023 will be the year where I cross off the last lakeshore.

4. Complete the 52 Hike Challenge

When I first decided to attempt this challenge, I thought it’d be difficult, but doable. Well, I think that assessment is correct, but my motivation lagged significantly toward the end of the year when the cold weather began to hit. Nonetheless, I think I did a pretty impressive job for my first go at the 52 Hike Challenge. I managed to go on 30 hikes this year, and most of them were different trails (I was unofficially attempting the Adventure Series which is 52 separate trails). My hikes spanned four states with a total of 95.73 miles — not too bad. If I attempt this again in 2023, I’ll probably try completing the regular 52 Hikes Challenge instead of the Adventure Series. The challenge of finding new trails often deterred me from going out on weeknights since I don’t live near too many long nature trails. Here are my hikes laid out below:

#	Location	Trail	Distance
1	Mauna Loa, Big Island, Hawaii	Mauna Loa Trail	6 miles
2	Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park, Big Island, Hawaii	Kilauea Iki Trail	4 miles
3	Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park, Big Island, Hawaii	Old Crater Road “Trail”	4 miles
4	Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park, Big Island, Hawaii	Halema’uma’u Crater	2 miles
5	Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii	Diamond Head Crater Trail	1.72 miles
6	Middleton, Wisconsin	Pheasant Branch Conservancy	3 miles
7	Madison, Wisconsin	UW Arboretum	3 miles
8	Devil’s Lake State Park, Baraboo, Wisconsin	Devil’s Door/Lake Loop (across the lake)	4 miles
9	Cross Plains, Wisconsin	Ice Age Trail – Table Bluff Segment	4.68 miles
10	Indian Lake State Park, Wisconsin	Blue Loop	3.1 miles
11	Devil’s Lake State Park, Baraboo, Wisconsin	Lake Loop	4.73 miles
12	Madison, Wisconsin	Ice Age Trail – Junction Segment	4 miles
13	Empire, Michigan	Empire Bluff Trail	1 mile
14	Empire, Michigan	Dune Trail	4 miles
15	Baraboo, Wisconsin	Parfrey’s Glen	2 miles
16	Baraboo, Wisconsin	Pewitt’s Nest	1.5 miles
17	Baraboo, Wisconsin	Natural Bridge	1 mile
18	Middleton, Wisconsin	Stricker Pond	4 miles
19	Baraboo, Wisconsin	Devil’s Door	1.5 miles
20	Red Cliff, Wisconsin	Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest	1 mile
21	Breckenridge, Colorado	Grizzly Peak	6 miles
22	Breckenridge, Colorado	The Grottos	1 mile
23	Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado	Flat Top Mountain Trail/Bierstadt Lake Trail	5.5 miles
24	Fort Collins, Colorado	Horsetooth Mountain Falls	3 miles
25	Verona, Wisconsin	Ice Age Trail – Verona	5 miles
26	Waunakee, Wisconsin	Governor Nelson	2 miles
27	Verona, Wisconsin	Ice Age Trail – Junction Segment	4 miles
28	Verona, Wisconsin	Ice Age Trail – Verona Segment	5 miles
29	Cross Plains, Wisconsin	Ice Age Trail – Cross Plains Segment	2.5 miles
30	Cross Plains, Wisconsin	Cross Plains State Park	1.5 miles

5. Complete the 1000 Hours Outside Challenge

I figured with the 52 Hikes Challenge, completing the 1000 Hours Outside Challenge would be a piece of cake. I was absolutely wrong. This was by far the harder of the two, especially in the winter months. Despite my best efforts during the warmer months, I barely pushed passed the halfway point, finishing with 512.06 hours. While I am not upset about missing the goal, I am disappointed with the way I handled this challenge. Unfortunately, I often let the challenge aspect get to me and found myself going outside just for the sake of logging those hours. While the purpose of this challenge is to get people outside and more in tune with nature, I don’t think I approached this challenge with a healthy mindset, and for that reason, I will not be reattempting this challenge in 2023. Instead of focusing on the number of hours I spend outside, I will just focus on doing more of the activities I love without the added pressure of time. For those looking to take on the 1000 Hours Outside Challenge, I would still recommend doing it, just be more conscious about your reasons for challenging yourself. 🙂

Conclusion

I didn’t meet most of the goals that I set out to complete in 2022, but I had so many more accomplishments that were unplanned. I completed the most challenging hike I’ve ever done, checked off a lifetime bucket list experience and made hiking a regular weekend activity. Sometimes the goals you set are just the stepping stone to a new lifestyle and sometimes they take you in a completely different direction. Overall, my 2022 was full of adventure, new experiences and igniting passions for activities I’ve never tried before. Here’s to another year full of trying new things and experiencing new places.