Happy New Year. It's 2018, and that means at least 52 more hikes from me. I finished the final three hikes of 2017 sick as a dog, and the final two in the bitter cold of a harsh winter in Michigan. I'm alive, still sick, but working on the next 52. Here are a few stats:

Total mileage: about 212

Solo hikes: 19 (which means 33 were with other people)

Canine companion hikes: 25

Unique locations: 29

Number of hikes I truly enjoyed: 46

The few hikes I didn't enjoy were most likely due to certain trails being closed, having a busy weekend and this feeling more like an obligation than fun, or plain old laziness setting in. The challenge kept me going, however, even when I didn't want to leave the house. I won't sit here and say that I love the metro area so much more because of this, but I'll certainly agree there are plenty of places to go hike that make living here more enjoyable. The mission of this challenge was to get me out and to encourage finding new places and I did that time and time again.

Looking forward to 2018 and the hikes ahead, I want to increase the length and explore a bit more out of my comfort zone. I'm going to shoot for 400 miles in hopes of getting there, but I will not beat myself up for anything above 300 as longer hikes require places that have longer trails and that just isn't always the case around the DFW metro area. I have plans to get back to Michigan as much as possible, to both enjoy the hiking and to visit family.

Here's to the new year, new trails, and new experiences all over again.