Washington Trails
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Trails for everyone, forever
Washington Trails
AssociationTrails for everyone, forever
Do you have trouble sticking to your hiking resolutions? Goal-setting can help. Here's a template to help you get started. By Joseph Gonzalez
The new year is the perfect time to forecast what you want your year outside to look like. (And besides, a Washington winter wouldn’t be complete without dedicating time to planning for warmer months.)
Keeping yourself accountable in pursuing a goal can feel daunting, so no matter what your goals are, here are some resources to help make your 2025 goals actually happen:
See an example of what a fully filled-out hiking plan looks like here.
Let's go through a framework to break down your goals into the steps you'll need to take to reach your 2025 hiking dreams. If you want to get into meat-and-potatoes templates and resources for planning specifics, you can skip to the next section. Remember to start with big chunks and build backward.
What’s the ultimate intention of your recreation plans this year? Think big picture, but in the simplest terms. Your vision should be aspirational but achievable.
Example: Develop a meaningful relationship with Olympic National Park through personal experiences
Think of your vision as an elephant. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Your goals are your bites. They’re the quantifiable steps that help you measure progress toward your vision. (Don’t actually harm any elephants, please).
Example: Hike a 50-mile trail in Olympic National Park
These are smaller deliverables that will contribute toward your goal. If you’re still following the elephant analogy, think of these as smaller bites.
Example: Build a backcountry itinerary
The small steps you take to achieve objectives. These can be more flexible than the previous steps, so be sure to fill in all the grey area of your plan with these as much as you can.
Example: Acquire backcountry permits
Download a blank template to help you work through your own hiking goals for the year.
Whether you already have an idea of what you’d like to achieve this year or just beginning to brainstorm, evaluation is a critical step to understanding where we need to go next to improve.
Consider the past year: What were your highlights, lowlights and areas you’d like to change? Look for these signs to help light the way when building out your 2025 calendar.
Years go by slowly, but weeks are quick. The way you spend your day is the way you spend your life, so it’s paramount to build a timeline that can pair with your goals. Setting tangible dates isn’t just important for accountability: it’s also critical for planning around seasons, permits and conditions.
Staying fit for hiking will help you reach your trail goals this year. Illustrations by Whitney Maass
Fitness is relative to the activity you have planned. If your goals include a physical challenge, the more fit you are for that activity, the easier it will be and the more fun you’ll have. So do yourself a favor and begin training physically for your plans.
The best way to get in shape for hiking is to hike. So if your plans include a long backpacking trip, it’s in your best interest to hit a few overnight shakedown hikes to fine-tune your system or to day hike with a weighted backpack.
Attached are a few templates you can use to help you achieve your own hiking goals this year. Just download the attachment and print them out o rmake edits on your electronic device. Once you have a feel for the general planning system, you can adapt these principles to your own style however you want.
Take some 2025 inspiration from the WTA staff's goals:
