The Ski Slopes in Summer?

Over the weekend I visited Coudersport, PA or more specifically Ski Denton for the Eastern Traditional Archery Shoot. We took the chair lift to the top of the mountain over 2000 ft high. We decended down the mountain everyday for several hours on an Archery Shoot with our longbows along the black and double black diamond trails and climbed up it once on the Cardiac Run trail (not as trecherous as coming down) and boy did this get my heart rate up. And to make it a bit more challenging, Mother Nature decided to add in rain, lots of rain, throughout the day over the 5 day stay making the trails very, very slippery.

The scenery, although gloomy at most, with a few sunshine breaks, was beautiful. The trails were heavily wooded. And as the days passed by, became even more muddy and slippery. By the end of the day, my legs and butt were feeling the effects of climbing, my abs were sore while I engaged my core in order to avoid falling down the mountain. My back, shoulders and arms were tired and pumped from drawing back my longbow over and over and over again (ok, I missed a few times and tried again in order to hit the target, but I really am a pretty good shot).

You don't always have to be in the gym to get a workout in. Head out to your local park or bike/ski hill (there's a great one to hike or bike out at Stony Creek) and get moving. To make it more challenging you can add a backpack with some light weights, books, etc.