October Review of Healthy Outdoor Goals

October is a magical month in New York. It’s like someone takes a paintbrush and starts painting the landscape in all tones of red, orange, and yellow. The air is crisp and the world is beautiful. I love hiking in October to see the trails turn golden with the change of the leaves. While the cold air and increased rain can keep us inside a little more, the beauty and fun that can be had in October draw us right back outside.

In case you need a reminder of my goals:

Spend an average of 1 hour/day outside with my kids. Setting this as a daily goal motivates me to make an effort every day instead of getting behind and then trying to play catch up. I’m hoping that we will surpass this goal, but for now, I am keeping this as an attainable goal. Plus, I made the goal in the winter and my youngest does NOT enjoy the cold. Since then, I have surpassed any expectations of myself and would love to hit 1000 hours outside this year.
Hike/walk the year in miles. That is 2,020 miles during the year, an average of 5.5 miles/day. I am recording my miles every day to keep track of this.
52 hikes in 52 weeks. This includes the trail runs that I have started to enjoy. GOAL MET!

These outdoor goals are helping me on my journey to achieve better mental health after postpartum depression and better physical health. I feel so much better when I am on track so I continue to pursue them. You can follow our journey daily on Instagram!

Are you ready to crush some goals?

Goal #1: 1/hour outside every day in October

October is the month of pumpkin patches and Halloween adventures (and yes, we did trick or treat, people were so creative on handing out candy)! That, plus all the leaves to play with makes October a really fun month for kids.

We even went to an outdoor restaurant as a family after the pumpkin patch and had a wonderful lunch on the Hudson River in Newburgh, NY. It was such a wonderful day!

The colder air doesn’t have to ruin the fun as long as everyone dresses properly (you too mom!)

Read about cold-weather clothing in Ela Wild’s “What Nature Can Teach Us: Winter”

We started to fall back into somewhat of a normal routine in October.

Things started to almost feel normal. My oldest is going to nature school and spending the majority of his time there outside. While he is off at school, my 2-year-old and I get some 1-on-1 time. Admittedly, sometimes that means we have to run errands, other times it is going for a run with him in the stroller. Many days we just play in the yard. He has become very attached to our dog, Laney, during all the hours he spent playing with her.

I try to go hiking with him at least once a week and go exploring in the woods several times. Although many of our “hikes” really just turn into playing in the woods too! He likes to find sticks and pretend they are horses. “Yee-Haw!”

October was full of leaf play, rainy play, and getting ready for cold. We stocked up on firewood and enjoyed a couple of nights by the outdoor fire pit. Walks have become a regular thing as well. We like to walk down to the road to check the mail or to a small creek to sit quietly. With the mornings as cold as they have been, our outdoor time has been shifting towards the afternoon so these are often post-nap walks.

I always make an effort to have 1-on-1 time with my oldest as well. Our best chance to do this is usually when his little brother naps. While we have shifted more of this time indoors too, going into the woods is still a favorite activity. He climbs every rock and fallen tree he can find. Exploring the world around him, he finds all sorts of things from tiny mushrooms to brightly colored leaves and learning about the stickiness of tree sap.

There was a lot of play outside and a lot of discovery. From exploring the garden to painting outside, October was a great month.

Total time outside for the month: 74.9 hours
Daily Average for the month: 2 hours 25 minute
Total time outside for the year: 889.8 hours
Daily Average for the year: 2 hours 55 minutes

Goal #2: Hike/walk 2,020 miles.

This month, I got back to running regularly. I forgot how much harder running with a stroller is, especially when you live in an area with as many hills as I do. My son is much larger now too so it takes a lot more energy to fun with him. Still, I push myself to do it and usually end up running 2-3 times per week averaging 5k in length. My longest run was nearly 6 miles! I also completed the 5k trail run I had mentioned last month.

Find the video of this trail run here!

All my walks around town and hikes added up the miles as well. I participated in NYNJ’s TrailaThon celebrating their 100th birthday and was trying to put in extra miles to benefit them.

Daily Average for month: 5.9 miles
Total Miles Walked this month: 184 miles
Total Miles Walked in the year: 1782/2020

Goal #3: 52 Hikes in 52 Weeks

This goal has been met!!!! I am now at 58 hikes for the year.

We started October with a hike to the Bear Mountain Zoo. It is a really fun, short hike for kids that includes seeing the animals at the zoo before hiking back to the car. This is always a hit with my kids and is a great hike for meeting up with friends.

As I mentioned, I’m trying to hike at least once a week with my 2-year-old so that he can build his skills. Sometimes that means he ends up on my shoulders for a while, but it is worth it for the beautiful fall hiking we did and for the smiles on his face when he is truly enjoying himself outside.

Hiking with a toddler is a lot of allowing him to explore. I figure that we can do an easy trail and I allow him to explore now that he can learn about his world. We are working on the idea of continuing to walk and only taking breaks to explore, but that probably won’t come until next year.

I got to hike in Storm King State Park with a friend in October and did a few solo hikes before work at Black Rock Forest as well. It was nice to get out my good camera for some fall hiking and was able to capture some amazing landscapes. I also started a new Instagram page for my photography: Califf Photography Creations.

We did get to do one big hike in October.

After waking the kids at 5 am to drive to the trailhead, we hiked up Windham High Peak in the Catskill Mountains making it our 7th high peak (4th for the kids). It was the most mentally challenging hike for us as our 2-year-old wouldn’t nap in the pack and was so tired he started crying so loudly the last quarter mile or so to the summit. I had to leave my husband and 4-year-old behind to get up as quickly as possible. After some time out of the pack, he felt better and napped for a little bit of the descent. By the time we returned to some of the lower viewpoints, the clouds were lifted and we were all rewarded with some remarkable views.

Find our video of this hike here.

While we realized that we need to stop any “destination” hikes, for now, we won’t stop hiking as a family. Instead, we will have no mileage in mind and will simply hit the trails to enjoy the experience. This is how we will be hiking until our youngest is capable of doing the bigger hikes on his own.

Hike-O-Ween

You didn’t think we would go through all of October without more mention of Halloween right? This month, I participated in Hike-O-Ween with some of my fellow outdoor mamas. We encouraged people to dress up and get outside! Our costumes weren’t exactly the best for trails, so we did a “hike” through the park that once was Letchworth Village. It is full of abandoned buildings and was the perfect backdrop for a Halloween photoshoot.

Total Hikes this month: 10
Progress Toward Goal: 58/52 (GOAL MET!)

Mental and Physical Health October Check-In

Falling back into a routine has been great for our mental health. We are all enjoying our time together and the kids are growing so fast! While I feel that time seems to be moving way too quickly, my kids remind me to slow down and enjoy each moment. I choose joy and, most days, that is enough.

I’m still struggling to get back to strength training but I’m happy with the progress made. I have more confidence in my strength. Instead of only doing resistance bands, I’m looking into building a small obstacle/training course in my woods. I think that if I can switch my training up a little more, I might feel more motivated to do it!

That was my outdoor goals review of October. I hope that some of what we have done to inspire you to get outside. For more life adventures, check out my Instagram page.