Building skills to eventually tackle the advanced hikes!

Are you like me? Are you a beginner hiker that dreams of hiking the Grand Canyon or maybe even Half Dome in Yosemite?

I've been intrigued by some of the local hikes in San Diego meetup groups, but always worried that I will not be able to keep up, or worried that the hikes are too advanced.

If this sounds familiar to you - then this is the perfect meetup group! This group is designed to start with beginner hikes and progress to the more advanced hikes, with the ultimate goal of an advanced "destination hike" (like the Grand Canyon?) next spring.

I plan on hikes every Saturday no later than 8:30, and some will be earlier. My goal is to make our hikes "progressively" more difficult. As of mid-October, we have progressed up to 400' elevation gain, and 5+ miles. It was tough for me, but seemed to be a breeze for others! We'll stay at this level for 2-3 more hikes, then we'll find something at 600' elevation gain, but drop down to 3-4 miles. Then, we'll increase our distance, remaining at 600' gain. That is my goal for how we will increase our endurance and ability - increasing 200' at a time. When we tackle more elevation gain, we'll drop the distance. When we're comfortable at the increase in elevation, we'll find hikes with increased distance.

If you are interested in conditioning mid-week, I will have three to four mile hikes, at least once per week. In addition, there are two great trainers I have used, and they have group fitness classes. Give them a call - group classes are very reasonable! www.http://www.sandiegopremiertraining.com - located in Carlsbad, LaCosta neighborhood; and http://cparkburke.com/fitness/ - located anywhere! Christine, the trainer, loves to do her fitness classes outdoors.