Take a Hike! - All Trails App Review

One thing I really wanted to try when we moved was hiking. Louisiana has a few good hiking places, but the incline is pretty nonexistent so we never really went. Now that we are surrounded by hills and mountains it seemed like a good time to start and I really wanted to get to those amazing views!

Image from All Trails website

I downloaded an app called All Trails. I've used it for two different hiking experiences so this review is kind of a mixed bag because we had two very different encounters. First let me bust out the pros of All Trails so you can understand why and how we used it.

PROS:

• Trails are sortable by distance, popularity, and time it takes to complete
• You can specify what activities you are planning to do (walk, hike, bike, dog friendly, etc)
• Pictures! You can see if the views are worth the climb.
• Hiking burns the most absurd amount of calories. 

Happy Hikers!

Our first time using All Trails we went to Calabasas Peak on Labor Day. The picture of our little family that I've used a lot in this blog are actually from that hike. It was a pretty difficult climb for our first attempt. The description was that it would be a "good aerobic workout with a moderate but steady uphill trek for about 2 miles." Um, yeah whatever. It was pretty hard. 

There were parts where the incline was so steep we had to help each other along. I thought carrying a 10lb pack filled with water would be a good workout and it was. I did stop about every half a mile just to breathe because the elevation was totally new.

Overall it was an amazing hike and we got to see a beautiful view of Los Angeles. Julia also loved it up until we were about to get in the car and she stepped in some fire ants.

Labor Day hike was a success and we said we would try to go hiking on or around every holiday.

Now onto the cons.

CONS:

• Horrible, horrible, horrible trailhead location
• Trails are usually marked a level easier than they actually are

Husband being brave ...or crazy

Husband worked on Halloween so we didn't get to go on the actual date so we tried the next day.

We picked a relatively easy and dog friendly trail. The directions to the trailhead were ridiculous. It literally lead to an apartment building. All we saw were sidewalks around the country club which I would not consider a scenic view. We could see a canyon but no actual trails or signage. We eventually gave up circling the supposed trailhead and decided to pick another location.

Yet again the driving directions made absolutely no sense. We went up a very winding road and were then directed to turn into someone's creepy driveway. Total fail. We headed back down the scary road and it was at that point I realized the app's driving directions to the trailhead were several miles away from where one reviewer checked himself in. The directions were absolutely nowhere near each other. 

Out of frustration and driving around for an hour trying to find two trails we had never been to in areas we weren't familiar we did all but give up.

We decided to go to a lake which is not a hill or mountain or even remotely considered hiking. It's basically a dirty duck poop covered sidewalk around a lake. 

Overall I have mixed feelings about All Trails. We did have an amazing day at Calabasas Peak but the Halloween hike that never was certainly made me less likely to trust this app in the future. I'm currently looking to see if there is another app out there that is more reliable with locations. Overall I guess this is a 3 out of 5 which is more generous than I was feeling last week. 

Dogs Pounds

I read a lot of health magazines, blogs, news articles, scribbles on bathroom walls, etc.


I read somewhere once before that you can tell if you're out of shape easily if you have a pet. I doubt a hamster will do, but if you have a dog hypothetically you should be able to see if you're packing a little extra poundage if your dog has also gained weight. I guess the idea is that if your dog isn't working out you probably aren't either.

I don't know where I read this or what kind of science is behind it but of course I had to test it out.

This is my dog Julia Sugarbaker (aliases include Julie, Julie Girl, Juju, Lulu, Louis, Louie, Little Girl and "are you kidding me?!")

I talk about my dog a lot. Since I don't know many people here in California she is now my best friend as well as child. When we adopted her last January she weighed about 35 lbs and was just 9 months old.

We don't know really what she is but everyone has an opinion about it. This makes it hard to know what an ideal weight should be.

Here she is in her physical prime:

What an angel and admittedly she does photograph slim. 


Well I decided to see how much she's weighing these days. I weighed myself and then lifted her up and weighed us together. I should have known when I picked her up that she is not as light as she used to be!

At a little over a year and a half Julia weighs SIXTY ONE pounds.

Immediately my brain started spinning. WE ARE UNHEALTHY AND THE DOG KNOWS IT!


Not to mention yesterday we reordered some medicine for her and got judged for her being over 60 lbs. Hellllloooo! Muscle weighs more than fat! She might be big boned! She's retaining water!


My brain jumped to the first logical connection: Those massive overweight toddlers on Jenny Jones (tell me you remember her show. I hope she won an emmy or something for that because it was art!). 

Basically in my mind dog = child. Child = chunk-a-monk. Chunk-a-monk = Jenny Jones massive toddler mother. 


Is there a greater guilt? And don't worry about me fat shaming my dog on the internet. We talked about it. She's cool.


Needless to say, Julia is having longer walks these days. She's so lazy she immediately sits next to her water to drink it. You know, standing is hard y'all!

I would say this is a wake-up call but we already knew that we needed to change our habits. Now we know we really are in this together. Dog and all! I guess I'll start keeping track of her weight progress too. Sigh. 

If you do decide to go home and weigh your dog let me know how it goes. 

XO Andrea