Seriously, just Google it! Articles in TripAdvisor, Forbes, and, of course, the National Park Service.
Health care providers throughout the country are encouraging patients to spend time in nature. Check out the Park Rx movement.
“In Washington DC, health care providers connect green space and park data to an electronic medical record to refer patients to parks for improved physical and mental fitness…In 2016, U.S. Surgeon General Murthy attended a Park Rx Day event in Rock Creek Park, a national park in Washington, DC, to encourage visits to parks as part of his large Step It Up! campaign to promote walkable communities.” (www.nps.gov)
Ok, so now what? Lace up your shoes and get out there!
This summer, two of my friends are out on the Appalachian Trail. Stretching more than 2,190 miles across 14 states, starting on Springer Mountain in Georgia, ending on Mt. Katahdin in Maine, the AT is considered one of the best long-distance hiking routes in the entire world! And, yes, my friends are going the distance!
Not on my bucket list – Just sayin’
Mid-summer, some other friends are heading to Colorado to climb Pike’s Peak. Still not on my bucket list, LOL. Pike’s Peak, considered “America’s Mountain”, is the most visited peak in North America. It is also the highest summit of the southern Front Range of the Rockies. Did you know Colorado is home to 53 “fourteeners”? (Mountains more than 14,000 feet above sea level.)