Reflecting on Ten Years of the Hiking Spree
The tenth year of the Hiking Spree drew to a close in March.
While many of you may still be trying to remember to pick up your rewards,
we’ve been reflecting on the past season – and the last ten – to see what we
can do to make the next ten years even better.
We think about the Hiking Spree a lot; in fact, there’s not
a single month of the year where we are not actively planning or running the
Hiking Spree. Planning for the Kickoff event is in full swing, our rewards are
being designed and ordered, and the coveted trail list is being written and re-written
throughout the summer.
To celebrate the end of the tenth year and the beginning of a new Spree decade, we wanted to write about some of our favorite things about the Hiking Spree over the years, what we’ve learned, and where we want to go.
Setting out on the Trail
The origin of the Hillsborough County Hiking Spree borrowed the
concept from the Summit Metropolitan Park District in Ohio, which has been
hosting the hiking event yearly since the 1960’s. The idea found its way down
from Ohio via Brad Lympany (now a Recreation Program Supervisor with Parks and
Recreation) and was proposed as a way to get people out in nature over some roadside
barbecue.
With the encouragement and assistance of Chris Kiddy
(Athletics Manager, Parks and Recreation) and Andy Fairbanks (now with
Wilmington, North Carolina’s Parks and Recreation department) the program was
founded here in Hillsborough.
As we sat at the picnic tables, we talked about what an amazing trail system ARC North had and how we wished more people knew about all the incredible hiking spots around the County.
Ten years later, thousands of people have been introduced to
our parks, preserves, and trails through the Hiking Spree.
Family Ties
Brad started the Park Naturalist position for Parks and
Recreation in July of 2015 with a blank mandate to create nature programming. “I
quickly realized that meant I needed to come up with ideas quickly or new ones
would be assigned to me!”
“Looking back, I had always enjoyed the Annual Hiking
Spree hosted by the Summit Metropolitan Parks, where we went on a lot of hikes
with my uncle Roger. At its heart, it’s a family program where the
tradition is passed through generations. He went with my grandmother, then
passed it on to us.”
We see much the same today; 54% of hikers report hiking with
friends and family and 10.5% of our hikers are children under 18, most likely
hiking with family. We also get dozens
of comments about how the Hiking Spree is an excellent family experience:
Hiker Valentina commented, “it really was a great activity
for my family and me to get out and get to know the county we live in but had
not made an effort to explore before.”
Hiker Jensen says the Hiking Spree “really got my family and I excited
to be in the parks!”
The opportunity to be with family even brought out the
non-hikers to the Spree; (non) hiker Bruce says: “I don’t like hiking; I hike
because my family hikes.” We appreciate
your effort, too!
Finding Your Stride
What is another pillar of the Hiking Spree? Getting hikers
to find new places! Hillsborough County is huge in both size and population,
but that doesn’t mean there isn’t anywhere to hike. We try to plan our trail
list in a way that includes the entire county, encourages people to travel and
explore, and hopefully find a new trail they’ve never hiked before.
Alison Hughes (Senior Program Coordinator, CELM), still
remembers how the Hiking Spree opened her eyes to amount of nature access
available in Hillsborough. “Before working for the county, I was traveling over
45 minutes to hike at a State Park, oblivious that I was surrounded by county parks
and preserves. The Hiking Spree is a fun, casual way to explore parts of the
county that I otherwise may not have visited.”
What our hikers had to say:
“My husband's family goes back four generations living in Tampa and we get to visit parks he's never even heard of.” – Elyse“It was a great motivator to explore parts of Hillsborough County that I had never visited before. It made me happy to see so many different parks available that I had no idea that existed.” – Stasia
“I am new to the area; I moved [here] a month ago. This was a great way to get me and my family out and walking and learning the area together.” – Synthia
A Trail for Everyone
If you’ve been on the Hiking Spree and ever asked yourself
why a shorter, easier trail was listed, remember that another fundamental piece
of the Hiking Spree is that it is accessible to all.
Ron Housenick, Recreation Program Specialist with Parks and
Recreation says, “we have a simple belief that nature belongs to everyone. Each
year, we hand select a diverse set of trails that vary widely in length,
terrain, and difficulty so that residents of all ages and abilities can
participate. Inclusion isn’t a tagline for us; it’s the foundation of the
program.”
While we have people asking for longer and harder trails
every year, we will always commit to having easier, accessible trails so all
our hikers can continue to participate. “The Hiking Spree isn’t just for
fitness enthusiasts or seasoned hikers,” Ron says, “It’s also for families,
beginners, seniors, people using mobility aids, and anyone who simply wants a
chance to experience the beauty of Hillsborough County’s natural spaces.
Everyone deserves the opportunity to explore, wander, and connect with the landscapes
that make our county special.”
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| Ron Housenick giving a talk about past Hiking Spree mascot, the American alligator. |
Crunching the Numbers
“I love the Hiking Spree, but getting to see the numbers at
the end is fascinating,” says Ashley Martin, (Program Coordinator, CELM). “All
of the data from the completion forms and surveys create a really interesting
picture of our hikers, our community, and how the two departments have done
creating the Spree every year – and how we can improve.”
One of Ashley’s favorite things to do over the summer is to
analyze nearly 30 different spreadsheets of data collected from registrations,
completion forms, feedback surveys, and trail surveys. She crunches the numbers
to get a reflection of who our Hiking Spree hikers are, and we use that data to
help us plan the following year – how many rewards to order, how to advertise
better, and what trails to add or remove.
“Plant City’s McIntosh Preserve was highly requested on
completion forms, so we added them two years ago. When we can make the changes
people ask for on those forms, it really makes the Hiking Spree a better
event,” Ashley says, but not all changes can be made. “Unfortunately, I cannot
do anything to mitigate complaints about mosquitoes or other wildlife, it’s
nature!”
Some of the things we’ve noticed in the data?
- Female hikers outnumber male hikers by about 20%
- Before this year, hikers 65+ were always our largest age demographic, but this season they were edged out by the Millennial 35-44 age group, who made up 21% of hikers.
- Hikers who hike with a dog are more likely to complete the hiking spree than hikers who don’t hike with a dog.
- This year, more hikers completed the hiking spree than ever before; almost 40% of all registered hikers.
We’re looking at this year's data
to plan next year’s guided hikes, trails, and more – we hope you like it!
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| One thing measured from completion forms is the # of hikes logged for each trail, and the # of people who claimed a trail as their "favorite." |
Fond Memories
We know our hikers have glowing memories on the Hiking
Spree, and we’d love to hear them! For
Brad, one of his first night hikes at Blackwater Creek takes the cake:
“How hard could a sunset hike at Blackwater Creek Preserve
be? Well, I spent the first 100’ trying to keep my shoes dry before
realizing the entire 5-mile loop was under 3 to 5 inches (or more) of
water. By the time we approached the halfway point the sun was
disappearing and darkness was setting in. At that point I heard some
grunting and figured there were a few hogs nearby. But no, it was bull gators
in the nearby marsh. It turned out to be a fantastic hike. The
stars were incredible and the sandy water was incredibly clean. Easily,
my favorite Florida hike of all time!”
For Rebecca Winch (Environmental Lands Management Coordinator,
CELM), it was a Hiking Spree Kickoff event in 2019 and seeing how the Hiking
Spree showcases the county:
“I had SO much fun watching people make their own walking
sticks, bird feeders, and painted pine coasters. Those crafts were a huge hit. It's
been so wonderful watching the Hiking Spree grow in reach and participation
over the past 10 years. Even as a county employee who works in parks and
preserves every day, I still have my blind spots, and I've learned about some
cool new parks through the Spree. I've also loved hearing peoples'
feedback and seeing other folks enjoy our trails and learn about properties
they'd never heard of before.”
We hope you’ve loved the Hiking Spree as much as we have
over the past 10 years, and we thank you for going on this journey together to
explore Hillsborough’s Wild Side. We hope the next Spree season will help you
create new memories this fall - and don’t forget to bring your friends!
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| A hiker at the Kickoff shows off their hat with medallions from the last 10 years. |
