I have 3 more hikes to post from my Christmas Break hiking trip to Houston, TX, but the turning of the calendar says it is time for my annual summary and reflection post. This is the one time each year I post something personal rather than a trail review/description.
2019 brought 56 new hikes for 173.7 miles. Neither of those numbers are records, but the 23 states covered this year tops the previous record of 19 states in 2017. Those 23 states included 2 new states: Iowa and New Jersey. There are only 5 more states to go until all 50 states are represented in this blog. Overall, 2019 had some great times on the trail with God's creation in its natural state.
Looking ahead to 2020, I have the usual array of hiking trips planned. The plans include trips to eastern North Carolina, the Ozarks of Arkansas and Missouri, northern Tennessee, and a long summer trip to Colorado. Also, my career hiking mileage as represented by summing the trail distances in this blog now stands at 2127.75 miles. So I only have 64.25 miles to go to reach 2192 career miles, which is the length of the Appalachian Trail as currently reported by the Appalachian Trail Conservancy. That number will probably be reached in the first half of 2020, so I need to come up with a way to mark that milestone. We should reach 800 hikes in the first half of 2020 as well.
Finally, 2020 will mark a transition year on three fronts:
1) the extension of this project from a text and photo blog to a Youtube vlog,
2) a refocus to parks (and other outdoor recreation activities) in addition to hikes, and
3) as the end of my math professing career likely comes in sight, a rebranding of my online presence from "Math Prof Hiker" to something to be revealed later, i.e. this blog won't be called the Mathprofhiker's Trail Journal much longer.
Take care, Lord bless, and see you on the trail in 2020!
David Prager, aka Math Prof Hiker
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