Local hiking streak recognized by Gov. Cuomo

Earlier this month, Gov. Andrew Cuomo recognized the hard work and dedication of two Trumansburg residents, mother and daughter team Amy and Elizabeth Dawson, who took a daily hike for 200 days straight over the spring, summer and fall.

The hikes started in March of this year, while Amy was spending a lot of time indoors due to the pandemic and decided to create a new habit to get out of the house.

“We thought it would be like three weeks or a month,” Amy said. “We thought it would be something to do to help pass the time.”

The lockdown didn’t end in a few weeks, and the daily ritual turned into a 6-and-a-half-monthslong adventure. Each day at around 6:45 a.m., before Amy started work and before Elizabeth had to log into online classes, the pair would drive to a nearby trail to walk and talk.

They started walking in winter, traipsed through spring and summer and finished in fall, with a span of temperatures from 28 to 90 degrees. Amy, an avid runner and hiker, recorded everything on her Apple watch and wrote about the experience on her blog skirtrunner.com.

“We timed everything, and you could see our times slow down in the summer when it was hotter,” Amy said. “But watching the seasons change was super fun.”

After the first month, the pair started taking a photo of themselves every day to mark their progress.

They most frequently visited Taughannock Park rim trail because of its close proximity to their home but also hiked at Treman and Buttermilk parks, as well as on the Black Diamond and Monkey Run trails. Their hikes ranged between 1.5 to 4 miles, with a total of almost 600 miles under their belts by the end.

Amy said they experienced all kinds of weather and that one of her favorite hikes was on a snowy day. The trails were not walkable, so they had to move their route to the road and clomp through the winter wonderland.

Elizabeth recalled that the worst hike, for her, was due to an unexpected visitor.

“It was dark and early, and we were using my phone flashlight,” Elizabeth said. “We were 3/4 of the way down the trail and all of a sudden we heard scurrying and squeaking, and we saw a raccoon. We were both screaming and clinging to each other and turned right around.”

They wrapped up the hiking streak in October, as daylight savings time made the mornings too dark to hike in. That same week, Amy went back to in-person teaching as a math teacher at Trumansburg middle school.

“Our goal was to do it until the world went back to normal,” Amy said. “We kind of defined that as my job going back to school, no longer at home teaching.”

During the lockdown months, Amy shared space at home with Elizabeth, a junior at Ithaca College; her son Xander, a junior at Trumansburg; and her husband Scott, who works from home.

“Scott always works from home anyway,” Amy said. “He had three people joining him suddenly, so that was a little disruptive to his life. We were all home together. We each had our little area. Our internet was a little stressed, but it mostly worked.”

The time spent at home was full of ups and downs for the family. Amy said that virtual teaching was challenging and that it was hard to get the kids into a routine. Elizabeth, a music education major, spent lots of time videotaping herself playing her instrument or singing. Amy said that Xander threw himself into academics by taking college classes online.

Amy and Elizabeth used their hikes as sacred mother-daughter time and never included others.

“It was grounding,” Amy said. “It marked the time. It became our opportunity to connect and share our feelings and how we were handling stuff.”

The 200-day commitment wasn’t out of character for the athletic Dawson family, who also trained for a marathon during the pandemic. When the races they had signed up for in California were canceled, they decided to run their own at home. Amy, Scott and Xander ran a 26.2-mile race around Trumansburg and into Ithaca while Elizabeth provided water service and a ride home at the end.

Recently, the hikers got some statewide attention when Cuomo mentioned them in one of his daily update emails. On Nov. 6, 2020, he linked to Amy’s blog post as part of the newsletter’s “Deep Breath Moment” section, aimed at highlighting ways to destress during the pandemic.

“That was pretty amazing,” Amy said. “My husband thought our streak was pretty cool, so he sent it in. He figured there was no chance they would ever actually use it. One night, I was at a bonfire and one of my friends got a text, and she said ‘You’re featured!’”

At this time, Amy is back to virtual teaching. After a few positive cases in the school district, Trumansburg pivoted back to online classes out of an abundance of caution. There is an air of uncertainty as the winter holidays and flu season approach, and Amy said she isn’t sure if she will start the hiking up again.

“I think it really depends on what happens with the world,” Amy said.