The Accidental Hiking Mom

Like seriously, I wish I could bold, underline, and highlight this entire sentence. A year ago, I would have rather eaten woodchips than voluntarily spend time outside. The thick summer Midwest air made my 260 pound body feel that much more weighed down. I always explain corn sweat to non midwesterners as if it was a foreign language. “So then when it gets right to harvest the corn actually sweats and makes it THAT much more humid”. Please don’t fact check that, because writing it down makes it sound extra ridiculous.

This time last year I had started my life over. I was settling in with the fact I completely walked away from a life that was doing nothing but dragging me down and keeping me there. I had packed my kids and I up and moved from the little 3 bedroom trailer that I owned outright, down the street to my Dads modular (big upgrades). For 6 months I shared a room with my kids. My kids were and are my rocks. The five of them have their own individual personalities but cumulatively, they’re the perfect mix of everything I need. I was so grateful. despite living back with my dad, I was starting to thrive. Leaving a toxic and hostile situation, I instantly lost 30 pounds. I was able to start enjoying time with my kids outside. Things we’re looking up. Until that night.

Yes, this IS a hiking in the Midwest blog. But I want you all to know why this came to be. If you know me, you know I’m a spontaneous type B energy. A lot of the things I find joy in, initially start as “hyper-fixation hobby’s”. This doesn’t feel like that. It’s become a lifestyle, rather than a hobby. But let me get back to my “why”…..

The night of June 27, 2025. I was annoyed. I was angry, and so very unappreciative. I had completely had it being at my dad’s and not having my own space. I needed to get out of the house to clear my head. I told my dad I was going to my Ex’s sister’s house, and I would be back. There was no exchange of greetings, rather just a relay of plans. I walked outside and I took a video of the sky. It was pink, and I added the song “Pink Skies” by Zach Bryan to the audio (iykyk. if you don’t, listen to the song and come back). I came home that evening to a quiet home. I woke up the next morning, it was a Saturday. I got my kids ready to go to the local farmers market. I had noticed my dad hadn’t gotten up for his day. It wasn’t abnormal for him to sleep in on Saturday’s, so I didn’t go to check on him. But by 10:30, my kids were being loud, and he still hadn’t come out of his room. I quietly knocked, and when I cracked the door open I knew immediately. My dad, my biggest cheerleader, the only person who ever made me feel like it was NECESSARY to find my own self outside of just “being a mom” was gone. There was no good bye, no order of plans, nothing. Just all of my “coulda woulda shouldas” that played in my head over the course of my 30 years of living.

“There was no goodbye, no exchange of plans, nothing. Just all of my coulda, woulda, shouldas.”

I got my work ethic from my Dad. I’ve never NOT been employed since I was 16, and any job I had, I took very seriously. My very first job was at my towns Dairy Queen (yes, curl university was a thing, and I attended). When I worked at the larger location for a while, the family that owned the franchise in our area asked me to work at the other locations too. I did lot of other jobs from then to now. In 2019 I graduated with my associates in applied science, and passed my board exam to be a certified surgical technologist. When I’m asked what a surgical tech is, I usually tell people “I’m the person who hands the surgeon the knife when they say ‘scalpel’.” Or (my personal favorite) “I’m either the surgeons baby sitter or best friend depending on the day”. I absolutely love my job, and the physicians I work with. However, I’m surrounded by so much sickness. It makes me so appreciative and thank GOD everyday that I’m capable to walk, and freely explore without getting short of breath. I had my health.Just barely, but it was there. But my life revolved around my job. Taking call, spending more time at work than at home. It wasn’t living. I was working my life away. Yes, I got my work ethic from my dad, but I also just watched him, at 60 years old, work 95% of his life away, and never made the time to do what he wanted or what made him happy.

Death, unexpected death specifically, unlocks something within you. People always tell me I’m lucky that I didn’t have to watch my dad suffer. But if I would had known that night, I would have said what I needed to say. I would have told my dad I loved him. Having dinner with your parent one night, and waking up and they’re just gone makes you realize how short life is in the grand scheme of things. It makes you realize how precious life is.

My dad and I always talked about our bucket list trips. My grandma always told me she would take me to my dream Destination: Scotland. When she passed, my dad stepped up and ensured we would get there. But the timing was never right for him. It was always “next year” or “when I have my funds a bit more loose”. Two people who I was supposed to go on this bucket list trip with were now gone. 2 months later, I got my oldest son and I’s passports. And for new years (and my Dads first birthday in heaven) we celebrated by taking his, (as well as my grandmas and grandpas) Ashes to St. Andrew Scotland. Doing things I had always talked about lit a fire under me. I want to be rich in experience, not money. I want my kids to have memories with me, not plans.

In March I took my youngest son to Arizona for spring Training (go Cubs). This was also another thing my dad would have loved to do (we took some of his ashes to Sloan field too). After a game we went to hole-in-rock in Phoenix, and I fell in love. I sat and watched my first Arizona sunset. It looked like a watercolor painting. I had called the guy that I was talking to (this is important) and told him how beautiful outside was. I took my son to superstition mountain the following day, and watched the sun dance on the sandstone. Turning the stone from orange to glowing red, to even a green yellow. I had never appreciated the beauty of nature like that until that moment. I no longer hated outside. Instead, I started to thrive in it.

“I want to be rich in experience, not money. I want my kids to have memories with me, not plans.”

I was so serious about leaving Illinois and packing my kids up to move to Arizona. Or Utah. I say I was so serious, but I’m actually very realistic. My village is in central Illinois, and without them, I’m not sure what I’d do. But that didn’t stop me from being upset that I couldn’t get the hikes like I got in Arizona in the Midwest. I had only ever been on concrete paths that had a less than 1% elevation. I wanted to be by rocks, I LOVE rock formations. That wasn’t in the Midwest….Or so I thought.

Remember a few paragraphs up when I said that guy would become important? Okay here’s where. I’m not going to give a man all of the credit. But I will say, he was someone I very much cared for. Someone I fell in love with after my long term relationship with my children’s father. I feel like my dad had sent him my way, and at first I thought it was for companionship. I’m learning now maybe he was apart of my story to help me find who I was within myself. Amongst other great adventures in the short time we were around each other, he showed me Matthiessen state park in Oglesby IL. This was a turning point. How was this in Illinois? The waterfalls, the rock, the elevation. I left there wanting—no, NEEDING more. Coincidentally, that trip to Matthiessen was also the turning point in our paths. And while we might not talk much at all anymore, I hope he reads this and knows he will forever be known to me as the one who showed me that Illinois can actually be more than corn sweat. The great thing about this part of my story is that no one I personally know knows him. But he knows. So if you’re reading this, thank you 🥲

So now we’re almost up to present time. I’m a single mom of 5, who had a little taste of Arizona, thought I had to move to find some serotonin within canyons and sandstone. And then was quickly humbled to the fact moving would be irresponsible, but also being shown that the Midwest CAN be BEAUTIFUL. I had no experience in hiking. But I’m a strong independent woman, who literally needs no man to help me find my way (unless you’re God, then I need you). I did some research, downloaded some maps, and went on my first solo hike to Turkey Run Indiana. I had never had so much fun by myself in nature. 260 pound me would NEVER (oh yeah, did I say I was on a weight loss journey and have lost over 70 pounds?) . I was scaling rocks, climbing ladders to canyons, I was LIVING. And I was back home in time to get my kids from school. Maybe I could stay in Illinois AND get my hiking in.

I started telling friends about my hiking shenanigans and I started getting more recommendations. “Go to Shades…the Devils backbone….” So I did. Shades State park was the first park I went to that wasn’t extremely well known. I’d show pictures and people had no idea where the spot was. When I drove in, I was literally the only human in the park, unlike Turkey Run where I had to share the trail with so many people, I couldn’t just sit and be in my own thoughts. And it dawned on me: I needed to find more hidden gems like Shades State Park. Suddenly my social media algorithms shifted. I started digging deep to find the places that I have found and have fallen in love with, and have explored on my own, by myself. There’s something to be said when you can say you were able to read a map (albeit gps, but it’s 2026, I’ll take my gps grid) and walk to where you want to go, through trees, mud, water, and get back to your care safely. The adrenaline from trying to plan your next step so you don’t land face first in mud. Or when you reach the lookout point. There is no better feeling. I want other people, other Women other MOMS to feel this feeling. I want to create a community and forum that people go to when they want a day trip but don’t know where to go. I love when people ask me “what trail do you recommend?” Or “have you been here?” It never fails now that every Thursday is my adventure day. I’ll spend the week prior planning my adventure, making sure to hit every key point that often gets overlooked.

So that’s how we got here.

A Midwest mom. Five amazing kids. A habitually broken heart. A lot of grief. A few wrong turns. A deep appreciation for rocks, and a growing obsession with finding trails that don’t look like they belong in the Midwest. Every Thursday I’ll be out chasing another adventure, usually within 90 minutes of home and back before school pickup. I’ll share the hidden gems, the mistakes, the lessons, the trail reviews, and everything I learn along the way. Because if I can go from hating the outdoors to planning my weeks around hiking, maybe there’s hope for the rest of you too.Welcome to Beyond the Cornfields. I’m so glad you’re here.

-Brittany

The Accidental Hiking Mom