It’s March and that means it’s time to start getting ready for another season of hiking and hopefully backpacking. I am hoping this year is going to be better than last year was here in southern Oregon. We had so many large wildfires last summer that it actually became unhealthy to spend to much time outdoors. This winter has seen a lot of snow fall so the area shouldn’t be as dry as last year. Of course we’ve gotten so much snow that it may be late spring before the high country has enough melt off to allow access to some trail heads. I’ll take that over wildfires any day though.

In preparation for the season I’ve been reading a few books related to the sport. I recently finished Fixing Your Feet: Injury Prevention and Treatments for Athletes. Its a great book that covers just about anything foot related. I learned all sorts of useful information about caring for my feet. If I start having any trouble with my feet this book will be my go to reference for sure. I am currently reading  Mountaineering: The Freedom of the Hills . I’m only a few chapters in and so far its turning out to have a great deal of useful information. It seems to cover just about every topic a backpacker, hiker, climber and mountaineer could ever need to know about. I can see why its so highly recommended in the outdoor community. I also picked up  100 Hikes / Travel Guide: Southern Oregon & Northern California . I’m embarrassed to admit I’ve only completed about 6 of the hikes in it. I will have to make sure I complete as many as I can this year. I’m going to set a goal of at least doing all the hikes within my region for sure this year. 

I’ve also been making a point of losing weight and exercising more so that hiking will be more enjoyable and so that I can do it for many more years to come. I’m taking a week off in March to get a jump start on the season and I can’t wait to get into it.