FIELD NOTES BLOG

Hiking as an Adult

Liz Wiener
March 12, 2025

Reflect, Recharge, and Rekindle Your Sense of Adventure

Hiking isn’t just for kids on school trips or backpacking twenty-somethings chasing epic Instagram shots—it’s for all of us, especially adults who need a break from emails, responsibilities, and the chaos of daily life. I’ve been hiking since I was young, and what I love most about it is that you can do it just about anywhere. I’ve hiked glorious mountain ridges in New England, summited 13,000 foot peaks in New Mexico, and climbed all 46 mountains above 4,000 feet in New York state…yet some of my favorite hikes are still the short, simple ones I can do out my backdoor. 

At Severson Dells, we believe that hiking is one of the best ways to refresh both body and mind. Our trails invite you to step away from the hustle and bustle of the “real world” and into nature. Here’s why hitting the trails—especially with us—should be part of your routine.

Health Benefits: Stronger Body, Clearer Mind

Hiking is one of the most accessible and rewarding ways to stay active. It improves cardiovascular health, strengthens muscles, and enhances balance and coordination. Walking is one of the lowest impact sports around, too! This means that while you derive all the cardiovascular benefits of other aerobic activities, you do so with a minimum of stress, strain and pounding to your body. According to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, hiking can lower blood pressure 4-10 points1. It is also a great way to maintain a healthy weight–you burn approximately 100 calories for every mile you walk at a casual pace. If you pick up the pace or tackle hills, you can burn up to 250 calories per hour! Hiking can also help your bones. A Washington University School of Medicine study found that postmenopausal women who hiked regularly increased their bone mineral content by 6.1% in just one year2.

From the mental perspective,there is plenty of evidence that spending time in nature helps reduce stress and improve your mood ! Hiking releases endorphins, which allow your “fight or flight” reflexes to calm down. A Stanford University study found that people who walked for 90 minutes in natural settings showed decreased activity in the brain region associated with depression. Another study showed that after just 50 minutes outdoors, participants experienced reduced anxiety and improved working memory. I know I certainly feel better after a walk in the woods!

Rekindle Your Curiosity

As kids, we explored the outdoors with wonder—chasing butterflies, flipping over rocks, and discovering new things at every turn. Hiking helps us reclaim that curiosity, no matter our age. 

At Severson Dells, we embrace that spirit of exploration with seasonal guided hikes that highlight nature’s hidden wonders. From full moon hikes to springtime searches for skunk cabbage and woodcock, to summertime creek walks, every experience offers something new to discover. Our trails change with the seasons, ensuring that no two hikes are ever the same.

We strive to be as inclusive and accessible as possible. If you ever have questions about trail difficulty or accommodations, we’re happy to help!

You can also theme solo hikes! Bring along a favorite book to read during your breaks, pause to journal the beauty around you, go searching for hints of your favorite color, and more. You don’t have to outgrow whimsy and imagination as an adult, in fact, you can indulge it through nature walks.

Ready to Hit the Trails?


Severson Dells Nature Center offers beautiful, accessible hiking trails that welcome all levels of hikers.


Upcoming Hikes:

Skunk Cabbage and Woodcock–Keep an eye on our page for these pop-up hikes!

Full Moon Hikes – April 11, May 12

Birding Stroll – April 23, May 6, May 20

Wildflower Walks (Tuesday or Wednesdays starting April 23) – Join us once a week at various natural areas to learn about native wildflowers from expert guides!


Find out more about our hikes and events by subscribing to our newsletter, visiting SeversonDells.org, or following us on Facebook.


We hope to see you on the trails!



Sources: 

  1.  National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. The Seventh Report on the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/guidelines/hypertension/express.pdf. Dec. 2003
  2. Dalsky, G. P., Stocke, K. S., Ehsani, A. A., Slatopolsky, E., Lee, W. C., & Birge, S. J., Jr (1988). Weight-bearing exercise training and lumbar bone mineral content in postmenopausal women. Annals of internal medicine, 108(6), 824–828. https://doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-108-6-824
  3. G.N. Bratman, J.P. Hamilton, K.S. Hahn, G.C. Daily, & J.J. Gross, Nature experience reduces rumination and subgenual prefrontal cortex activation, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 112 (28) 8567-8572, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1510459112 (2015).
  4. Health Benefits of Hiking, https://americanhiking.org/resources/health-benefits-of-hiking/
  5. Hike Your Way to Better Health, Harvard Health Publishing, https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/hike-your-way-to-better-health


RECENT ARTICLES

Emma's Farewell

By Emma Zimmerman • August 26, 2025
When I started at Severson Dells nearly two years ago, I never would have believed I’d still be here today. What was supposed to be a short detour turned into one of the meaningful positions I have served. These years have flown by, and as I sit down to write this farewell, I keep circling back to my early days here. It feels important to revisit that beginning, because in so many ways, it shaped everything that followed.

Shannon's Farewell

By Shannon Osadjan • August 26, 2025
While my time at Severson Dells is coming to an end, my time and experience as a junior naturalist is just beginning. When I accepted this job position, I was a recent college graduate who was ready to get into the environmental work force but didn’t know where to start. Here I am, a year later, and I feel ready and excited to take on whatever comes my way. Last September, when I first started working here at Severson Dells, I didn’t know what to expect. I had never been an educator before and I was nervous about my skill-set, but I pleasantly surprised myself. I found myself enjoying teaching, and the goofy experiences and questions that came with it. When I started here, my biggest goal for myself was to become better informed about the ecology of Rockford, and being more aware and able to identify what’s growing around me. A year later, I am proud of myself and how much I have learned. Because of my schooling background being in geology, I already had a familiarity with looking at the outside world in a different lens. I know how to look at the geology and the basic layout of an area to understand the depositional environment, or what the land most likely looked like back in the day. However, being at Severson Dells for the past year has shown me how to appreciate nature and the outdoors in a new way, in a biological sense. I now know how to look at the ecology of an area and see how the plants are working together, and how this compliments what the birds and the bugs are doing, and how the trees play a role too, and this cycle keeps going. I knew forests were interconnected, but I feel like I truly get it now. It’s helped me to connect the pieces of nature that I wasn’t aware of before, and put them all together now to see a new, bigger picture. Severson Dells is a place I will always hold dearly to me. The experiences I had, the challenges I overcame while being here, and the personal growth I’ve been able to experience: all of this helps shape my love for this lovely forest preserve here in Northern Illinois. I want to be sure to express my appreciation for the staff here at Severson Dells Nature Center, and the kindness they always treat everyone with. The people here are always so willing to help me with learning new skills, diving into intimidating science topics, and trying to help foster that curiosity that everyone has inside of them. As I close this chapter, I feel inspired and grateful for the connections I’ve made, and ready for what the future has in store for me.

Sydney's Farewell

By Sydney Sherbitsky • August 26, 2025
I’m sitting at my desk listening to the distant chatter of kids outside and the excited murmuring of my coworkers. I am surrounded by tokens of memories - a sticker from the rot museum and a walnut shell owl I made with campers. On my computer screen, a half edited video about the Grove. In my desk drawer, a stack of lesson plans I once felt nervous to teach, but I now know by heart. Next is the bigfoot code from the cryptid hike, handwritten notes from my coworkers, and the spot where my notebook lives. This notebook has been with me from the start of this position and is full of the many things I have learned at Severson Dells. As my time here comes to a close, I flip back through the pages and reflect on what the past year has taught me…