I jumped right in and started hiking regularly 10 years ago when I moved to Indio as a Snowbird. However, I had hiked off and on for 40 years prior to that. In my younger years, I enjoyed road and cross-country running. I have always enjoyed the outdoors looking out over the beauty of God’s creation in lakes and mountains. Here in the Coachella Valley, I enjoy the exercise outdoors, sharing our unique desert landscape and terrain with fellow hikers. Herman’s Peak in Coachella Valley Preserve is a favorite because it goes from flat and sandy up a steady climb to the Peak, rewarding hikers with its 360-degree view. One of my hiking highlights has been the 3-day Routeburn Track I took in 2017 through the beautiful Fiordland scenery in his native New Zealand. Pouring rain on the second day caused mountainside tracks to become raging waterfalls. Luckily the handrails imbedded into the rock helped prevent hikers from being blown off the high sections. A second highlight was climbing in the oxygen deprived air from the parking lot to the Refuge Centre at the 15,900 ft level on 19,300 ft high Cotopaxi in Ecuador in 2018, this being one of the world’s highest active volcanos.
