Every morning, I got up, grabbed a mask, and headed out. Weekdays were on our local trail. If I was on trail by 6am I rarely saw others and I was back in time for a shower before work. Weekends were somewhere else because the crowds arrived early and our trail is not built for pandemic times.

Three weekends were overnights with the kids. They joined me for a total of 27 days. Yes, they even got up early to go some mornings. Tinkham only missed out when we were in a National Park or overnighting.

The streak ended only because the smoke from wildfires got so bad I had to wear a mask even when nobody was around. Tinkham never did wear a mask, but after that last trip we both decided to wait until the skies cleared. Sleeping in on day 105 was hard.

Since the end of the streak it's been all weekend days except one. Now it's dark before and after work and the bear is literally right outside the back gate so I'm a little less inclined to tromp around in the dark.

Hiking every day gave me some structure and purpose during some of the hardest days of lockdown. This three month stretch helped me find joy on the trail and shake the existential dread of 2020 if only for a few hours at a time. When will the next streak start? Probably once the snow falls and the bears go to sleep.