The Hood Hikers

Hey Hood Hikers. We've been working on some things behind the scenes to make our return in the fall. We had hoped to be around before then but... LIFE 🥴

Enjoy your summer and get outside! But maybe not today because our planet is burning? Smfh yea i know we all need to escape to the woods immediately so we will meet you there soon!

Stay tuned. We will be back soon! Xoxo.

Last call for Saturday's hike. Only a couple of tickets left, registration closes tomorrow at 1:00 pm. We outcheaaa!

What a difference a year and a half makes. 🥲

Yerrrrrrr Happy Monday Hood Hikers!!

We are back! We appreciate all of the support and inquiries during our hiatus. We have returned just in time to celebrate Earth Day with our people!

If you contacted us with questions, or to collaborate, and we haven't gotten back to you, please reach out again! Things were hectic, sincere apologies !

Check your email now to register! If you're not on the email list, we'll post the link for registration tomorrow. Can't wait to see you all Saturday!

Missed our obligatory live video, but had a blast with this magical group today! 💫💫💫

It feels good to be back!

Whew, the way the algorithm will suppress our important stories is wild, but expected. From 400+ views to teens is egregious. That's why you have to pull up in person... let's connect, politic, ditto. 😉

We cooking up a few things, brushing the dust off. Save the dates for our next Hood to Woods series:

October 25th - Ft Tryon
November 8th or 15th - TBD

Miss yall immensely. Community is needed now more than ever.

Hey Hood Hikers! I know it's been a while, this is a super late post. Our last hike was perfection *chef's kiss* The weather could not have been any better. I did put the Hood Hikers to work on a Saturday morning and they definitely exceeded all of their steps goals. As per usual, amazing group of people. Fun, interesting, and determined! Everyone went home with some goodies🍃🌍 Here are a few shots from that beautiful day..

#420

Registration for our Earth day/420 hike is now open! Pull up for good vibes, beautiful views, and wavy goodies. thehoodhikers.com/event-details/seek-the-old-earth-4-20 #420

Couldn't let the month go by without celebrating the ladies! Registration for our next hike is now open! Join us in celebrating the women in a 4 mile easy hike. We'll tale a stroll, take in the sights, and enjoy community. Men are welcome, so bring your favorite lady along.

Hikers are automatically entered into a raffle for a chance to win a gift card to for a 30 min body scrub and your choice of a 60 min full body massage or facial.

Sign up today at https://www.thehoodhikers.com/event-details/who-run-the-world-girls
Registration closes next Thursday, 3/21 at 8pm.

SUUUUUUPER LATE & LONG POST!!! Happy New Year Hood Hikers!!!! Forgive me for my hiatus, I have been adjusting to motherhood & a new job. My life is so drastically different from just a year ago so please be patient. I miss you all so much! I miss the trees, I miss the mountains, and I miss the trails. I miss taking everyone out of the city and escaping all of our worries and troubles together. With all the slaughter happening globally and all of our local daily plights, I know we all need an escape now more than ever. I promise I will be pulling up in a rental van to whisk you away to an adventure very soon! For now, enjoy these photos from our last hike and read on for story time and upcoming events.

Story time!
Let's chat about our last hike, our Halloween Hike, that went down in October. I encountered some obstacles! First, it was unseasonably warm, which brought out the MASSES!!! So much so that the parking lot was full by the time we arrived. My good parking juju saw to it that we landed a great parking spot but some of our hikers that met us on the trail were not so lucky. I had to coordinate meeting folks at a parking lot a little ways away and getting them to the trailhead, which delayed our start, a little warm up pre-hike if you will lol The trail was more crowded than we're used to but the group was amazing and made the best of it. Shout out to the French Guy costume that won the costume contest.
Then came the post hike activities. We decided to enjoy some delicious local ice cream, and so did everyone else, the line was endless. While waiting on the line, this new breastfeeding momma had exceeded her time limit for pumping. So here we are, nowhere near NYC, or my breast pump, with my baby feeders about to combust. I didn't anticipate us being gone for so long so I didn't properly prepare and failed to bring along my manual pump.

***WARNING, graphic breastfeeding details to follow*** This resulted in me waiting for bathrooms in the local shops that were overflowing with crowds, and manually expressing milk into the sink, which provided only brief relief. The drive back to the city was excruciating, I was in so much pain and desperately needed to get the milk out. As soon as I dropped off the Hood Hikers, I was expressing milk into a plastic bag smh.

Anyway, I survived (barely) but best believe I will never leave my pump again! This traumatized me and made me realize I had to slow down with my return to guiding trips. Especially since the following week I started a new full time job in Bk, which is a pretty trash commute from my home. The new job, in a far away land, was a necessary sacrifice I had to make as a single mom. Speaking of which, major shout out to my own mother who has been helping me tremendously by watching my mini Hood Hiker while I work and lead hikes. She is truly the real MVP. Thanks for reading all about my saga lol I share all of this so you can understand my absence and be patient with me as I get into this new flow.
We still have some exciting things coming up.

First, our 3rd annual New Year photo contest! Submit a photo you personally shot while on a hike with us for your chance to win $200! It can't be a photo that you have submitted in previous contests. DM me your photo by Sunday, January 7th to enter the contest. I will post all of the entries on Monday and the photo with the most likes by 8pm on Thursday, January 11th wins!

Second, join us for our 3rd annual Black History Month Hike on Sunday, February 11, in collaboration with our dear friends at Trials, Trails and Triumphs and TriState Hikers ! I will post about the hike again in the near future. You can register at https://www.t3hikes.com/ Unfortunately, I can not provide transportation for this event.

Finally, to wrap up this insanely long post, the finalized version of the doc Concrete Bushes by the brilliant folks at Scene8Productions is available so go check it out here https://vimeo.com/899620857 I'll dedicate a separate post to the film and the screening we had.
I want to thank you all for your continued support and patience! I hope to see you on the trail soon!