Hempfield woman's goal: Hike a state park every week in 2023

A Hempfield mother of five has a set an ambitious goal of hiking at least one state park a week for the rest of the year.

“I really discovered my love of hiking in 2022. I started thinking about it (setting the goal) at the end of the year,” said Kim Debes, 43, a mother of five.

Her children include two sets of fraternal twins and a 14-year-old son.

Debes, a competitive runner since her days at Greensburg Salem High School and Millersville University, said she took up hiking at a time when she was struggling with grief resulting from the October 2020 death of her mother, Kathy Burkley, longtime executive director of the Humane Society of Westmoreland County.

While she continued to run in community races after her college graduation — including a 13.1-mile half marathon in the rain last year as part of the events of the Pittsburgh Marathon — she wanted an outdoor activity that was less stressful on her body and fit into her family’s busy schedule.

“The hiking is something I can do with my kids,” Debes said.

She found that hiking “gives me a sense of calm,” Debes said.

“Hiking allows me to take my time and enjoy all the beauty that surrounds us. I’ve loved sharing it with my children, as well,” Debes wrote in a Facebook page detailing her treks, Kim Hikes PA.

Prior to setting the hiking goal for this year, Debes had hiked several state parks, including Bushy Run Battlefield in Penn Township and Laurel Hill in Somerset County.

She was on pace in January to hike 108 state parks this year, having trekked at Ohiopyle in southern Fayette County, Keystone in Derry Township, Laurel Hill near Trent, Somerset County, Kooser in Somerset County, Raccoon Creek in Beaver County, McConnells Mill near New Castle, Linn Run just outside of Rector and Laurel Ridge east of Ligonier and Yellow Creek in Indiana County.

Debes has not mapped out a schedule for the next 11½ months, but wants to keep her hikes to parks within a 1½- to 2-hour drive from home in the winter.

“I’m kind of watching weather each week to see which parks are best for the weather,” Debes said.

She has a lot of parks to choose from within a three- to four-hour drive of Greensburg. Of the 124 parks managed by the Bureau of State Parks, about 70 are west of a north-south line stretching from Williamsport north to the New York border, to State College in the center, south to the Chambersburg area near the Maryland border.

On her bucket list of state park hikes is hiking the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon near Wellsboro, where the Leonard Harrison and Colton Point state parks cover the opposite sides of the canyon, and Ricketts Glen, in Sullivan, Luzerene and Columbia counties, which is known for its numerous waterfalls; Bald Eagle in Centre County; World’s End in Sullivan County; Lehigh Gorge in Luzerne County; and Elk in Elk County, where “I really want to see the elk,” she said.

Debes’ desire to hike as many state parks is a passion she shares with others, said Brian Swift, communications manager for the Pennsylvania Parks & Forest Foundation, which included a photo of Debes and her goal of hiking in state parks in its Jan. 7 newsletter.

The nonprofit parks foundation has a “see-them-all challenge” that has attracted a group of people who want to hike all 124 state parks, Swift said. They can get “passports” from the parks and forest foundation and have those stamped at the various park offices that shows they hiked in that park.

Debes said she had obtained a Pennsylvania State Parks and State Forests Passport Book, where visitors to the state parks can initial their books or have it stamped at the park office.

On a recent day she was hiking in Linn Run State Park with her children: Gabe, 14; 11-year-olds Sylvia and Ben; and 9-year-olds Hazel and Finn, along with their cousins from North Huntingdon.

“I enjoy hiking with my mom. It’s nice to get outside and spend time with my mom,” Gabe said.

Hiking is squeezed in between youth sports including baseball and basketball, and the coaching duties of her husband, John, who also goes on family hikes. Debes is a bookkeeper who works from home, which also allows her on Fridays to go on solo hikes during the school day that are longer and more challenging, like a recent 8-mile trek at Laurel Hill State Park.

When they are looking for a hiking spot closer to home, Debes said their “go-to” spots are the Bushy Run Battlefield in Penn Township, where they hiked on a bitter cold Christmas Eve morning, and Twin Lakes Park east of Greensburg.

With all of the hiking and outdoor activities her children are doing now, Debes said, “I hope they will have an appreciation for hiking” when they grow older.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct Gabe’s name.