LOCATION: Stratton Open Space

OUTFIT DETAILS: Lavender Diamond Chacos || Custom Chacos (my husband created his own Chacos!) || Nalgene Water Bottle || Patagonia Barely Baggie Shorts || GAPFIT Breathe Roll Sleeve Tee

We recently discovered some new favorite hiking trails. I’ll admit it, I  take all of our open space & hiking trails near by for granted. I grew up with hiking trails practically in my backyard and all scattered in my city. It is so normal to me that I am surprised when people don’t have hiking trails near by – how far do they have to go to hike? Or bike? While I know there are plenty of other ways to get outside and get some fresh air, hiking is by far one of my favorite ways and I am ever so thankful to live near a place where I can do that often.

Like I said, there are so many hiking trails near by that we are still discovering new ones. It is quiet remarkable that Bruce & I have never been to Stratton Open Space before despite both growing up in this city. It is beautiful. Tucked right in the city, the trail head is at the end of a neighborhood street. From there the trails branch off into so many paths, it can be overwhelming to know what to take the first time. We went with the Upper Meadows Loop because it appeared to cover the most space and we had the whole morning to spend on the hike.

What I love about hiking is that you can go faster or slower, longer or shorter. To fit your workout goals and time frames, hiking can fit whatever you need it to be. Since we were going on a longer hike and enjoying the whole morning, we made sure to bring full water bottles. I also picked some of my more active clothing for the hike to keep cool and comfortable. It was overcast but that ended up making for a much more enjoyable hike without the sun beating on our backs. We were also both wearing our blue Chacos which mostly make us look like we are twinning but they are not the same pattern 😉