Hiking for health
Stanly County program promotes good health one step at a time
Gwen Burris and her granddaughters Kera (left) and Nyah Burris take a break after a morning hike in Morrow Mountain State Park. Since 2016, the three have participated in Hike it!, a summer program that combines outdoor exercise with short nutrition lessons.
ALBEMARLE – Gwen Burris knows that you’re never too old to pick up healthy habits.
In the past few years, Burris, now 69, has conquered the Sugarloaf Mountain Trail, a strenuous hike in Morrow Mountain State Park that ascends nearly 900 feet, and the Morrow Mountain trail, a less challenging but longer trail in the park. Accompanying her on the hikes have been granddaughters Nyah and Keara Burris, and as many as 100 kids and families involved in Hike It!, a program developed by Atrium Health and the Stanly Health Foundation and supported by Cooperative Extension at N.C. A&T.
“Every year I ask myself, ‘Will I be able to do this?’ and so far, so good,” said Burris. “It’s so rewarding to complete a hike and realize you’ve done it. You get stronger every year. You feel like you can take deeper breaths.”
Hike It! began as a way to continue a program called Passport to Health, offered to fourth-graders in Stanly County, into the summer months. The in-class program is taught by Daniel Harkey, health promotions manager for Atrium Health Stanly, and it expanded to include the summer hiking program in 2015. In 2016, Harkey began collaborating with Cortney Allen, a nutrition program assistant in Stanly County with Cooperative Extension at N.C. A&T.
Since then, Hike It! has blossomed. What started as a program for rising fifth-graders with 35 to 40 participants each week became one for families, children and even grandmothers with as many as 100 participants on each hike. Allen brought a nutrition education component to the effort, providing brief nutrition lessons before each hike and sharing healthy recipes with interested hikers. All hikes concluded with a light, healthy lunch, provided with funding from the Stanly Health Foundation.
“I was just starting out here in 2016, and I wanted to build partnerships,” recalled Allen. “I started doing nutrition lessons and bringing in new foods to try.”
Allen learned that in summer, kids don’t have much patience for a sit-down nutrition lesson, so she learned to be creative and keep her lessons short. Sometimes lessons would be as simple as a poster, such as one that showed how sugary soft drinks can be by showing a picture of a donut followed by the question, “How many donuts are in your soft drink?”
A big part of the hikes, said Harkey, is the connections that kids make with each other and their adult chaperones. New friendships emerge and kids who haven’t had exercise as part of their daily routines begin to look forward to the hikes and gain self-confidence and better health in the process.
“We have an epidemic of Type 2 diabetes, and there is a correlation between exercise and diabetes prevention,” he said. “By the time these kids reach their 50s, two out of three will have complications from diabetes. This is something they can do to fight that trend.”
Allen said the healthy lunches at the end of each hike – which are affordable and require no cooking – also serve as a lesson to the hikers. They eat rice cakes with peanut butter and blueberries, scoop up roasted red pepper hummus with pretzel sticks, and come to realize that eating healthy can be easy and within their budgets.
“They see they can put things together and have an easy, healthy meal. And they begin to buy these healthier options instead of cookies and chips,” said Allen. “That’s the kind of change that makes a difference.”
In 2018 and 2019 Hike It! ran for seven weeks with hikes every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. The program was put on hold in 2020 because of COVID-19 and the need for social distancing. However, the healthy habits instilled through the program continue to have an impact on participants.
Burris said her granddaughter Nyah used her hiking skills to earn a spot in the West Stanly Middle School Marching Band. While her ability to play the trumpet was the main skill needed to play in the band, building up muscles from several summers of hiking makes it easier to play while marching.
“Hiking has helped her focus,” said Burris. “It’s for your entire body, not just your muscles. You observe nature and learn to deal with the heat. You make new friends and learn about health and nutrition. It’s all good for you and improves your life.”
