One foot in front of the other

For Tara Martin, Big Canoe Creek Nature Preserve has become a place to get stronger, slow down and find herself again

The trails at Big Canoe Creek Nature Preserve are more than a place for Tara Martin to exercise.

Just a half-mile from her home in Springville, the Preserve has become her personal playground, training ground and place to breathe. She walks, hikes and climbs its rugged trails as often as she can, sometimes covering 15 or 20 miles in a day.

And when she leaves, she doesn’t feel worn out.

“I come back feeling energized and recharged,” she says. “I feel awesome.”

For Tara, the explanation is simple. There is something about being outside – surrounded by trees, streams, birds, wind and uneven ground – that restores her.

“The Preserve cleanses me,” she says. “It gets my body in shape. It stops the chaotic brain.”

Over the past two years, the Preserve has helped Tara become stronger physically and emotionally. It has been the place where she built her endurance, discovered a love of climbing and prepared for some of the biggest adventures of her life.

But perhaps most importantly, it has become a place where she can simply be.

“I feel very connected to nature,” she says. “There aren’t that many places where I feel that way, but I always do at the Preserve.”

Finding her way back

Two years ago, Tara was living a very different life.

She was a wife and mother, and at work she was a lead support specialist overseeing about 100 caregivers. The job was demanding, stressful and essentially non-stop. For years, much of her energy went toward taking care of everyone else.

“I never thought about my life and future – it was all about survival mode,” she says. “I went to work and was on call. I never thought about what I wanted. I just let myself go.”

Then came a vacation she had dreamed about since she was a child.

Tara and her husband, Mark, had planned a trip along the Pacific Coast, something she had looked forward to for years. But when the time came, she couldn’t enjoy it the way she had imagined.

It hurt to walk. Her body wasn’t prepared for the demands of the trip, and the experience forced her to confront something she could no longer ignore.

“I needed to get my life together,” she says. “I needed more movement.”

She began making some changes. She sought out therapy and started walking at a park in Springville. She could put in the miles, but she wasn’t getting stronger.

Then her son told her about Big Canoe Creek Nature Preserve.

It was close to home and offered something the park didn’t: elevation, hills and rugged, changing terrain. The Preserve’s trails climb and descend through the woods, with uneven footing, streams, creeks and fallen trees that make every walk a little different.

“I started going out there every day, even if it was only a mile or mile-and-a-half,” Tara says.

Soon, the miles added up.

“I walked up hills and noticed my leg muscles had gotten so much stronger,” she says. “I realized how much I loved climbing.”

Tara began wondering what she might be capable of beyond the Preserve.

Testing her strength

Tara was ready to put her new conditioning to the test. She traveled to Zion National Park in Utah, where she took on Angels Landing.

For Tara, completing the hike was about more than reaching the top. Not long before, she had struggled simply to walk during a vacation she had dreamed about for years. Now she was tackling a demanding climb in one of the country’s most spectacular landscapes.

She loved the challenge. The physical effort, the adrenaline and the satisfaction of accomplishing something difficult appealed to a part of Tara she was only beginning to discover.

“I developed confidence,” she says.

A month after returning from Zion, Tara reached another turning point.

She quit her job.

After years of a demanding position, she had reached a point where the work was no longer sustainable. She wanted a life with room for more than work – a life that allowed space for her family, her health and herself.

She drove to Colorado, car camped and climbed the Manitou Incline, completing all 2,768 steps.

Tara took three months off before finding a new job. Instead of simply slowing down, she used the time to explore what she could do.

Choosing a life of adventure

She went backpacking at Cheaha State Park and Sipsey Wilderness.

In a five-month period, she climbed Yonah Mountain three times, Slaughter Mountain and Brasstown Bald, and tackled Calloway Peak twice.

“I’m always after the next bigger mountain,” she says.

Each climb gave her another reason to believe in herself. She was seeking out steeper trails, longer distances and more difficult terrain.

“When you weren’t able to do this before – low self-esteem and no confidence – and then you accomplish it, it’s such a point of pride,” she says. “When you thought you could do nothing and realize you can do everything, that’s life-changing.”

The change showed in more than what she could accomplish on a trail.

“I walk differently now,” she says. “I stand up straight. I move with confidence. I feel amazing as a human being.”

A life with room to breathe

Now, Tara’s job has a more flexible schedule and gives her something her previous career had not: time.

She could work and take care of her family without putting herself last. Exercise and time outdoors could become part of her regular life rather than something she squeezed in when everything else was finished.

And she kept returning to Big Canoe Creek Nature Preserve.

Over the past two years, Tara has steadily lost weight, built muscle and developed the endurance she once thought was beyond her reach. What started as short walks became longer hikes. Miles became double-digit miles.

“I can walk 20 miles now and it’s nothing,” she says.

She credits the Preserve with giving her the terrain and consistency she needed to build that strength.

But the physical benefits are only part of why she keeps coming back.

Where she finds peace

For Tara, the Preserve is also a place of solitude and reflection.

There is a spot she affectionately calls “Tara’s Rock.” She sits there to pray, meditate or simply eat her lunch.

“I wanted to be able to have privacy and peace,” she says.

She describes the experience of being in the woods in almost physical terms: listening to the wind and birds, smelling the rain, feeling dirt beneath her fingers.

“Our bodies are composed of water; we are nature,” she says. “There’s nothing like being outside.”

Those sensory experiences help her feel connected – not just to the landscape, but to herself.

“It’s so cathartic,” she says.

A 15-mile day on the trail doesn’t necessarily leave her depleted. Instead, she often returns home feeling recharged.

“When I go out of state, it’s for the challenge,” she says.

The big mountains give her that challenge. The Preserve gives her something else.

Connection.

“If you’re running up and down Yonah, that’s about endurance,” she says. “At the Preserve, I connect with the earth and nature.”

That distinction is important to Tara. The mountains have become places where she can test herself, but the Preserve has become part of her everyday life.

It is where she trains, but it is also where she returns to herself.

The adventure in her own backyard

Tara’s adventures have continued to grow.

Her greatest accomplishment so far was completing the Cascade Canyon and Paintbrush Canyon Loop in Grand Teton National Park. The achievement represents just how far she has come.

And there is already another goal on the horizon: Mount Rainier.

She’ll train for that challenge the same way she has trained for everything else – by putting in the miles and tackling the hills at Big Canoe Creek Nature Preserve.

But Tara doesn’t believe someone needs to be preparing for a major expedition to appreciate what the Preserve offers.

That’s one of the things she loves most about it.

It is raw rather than perfectly manicured. Rugged rather than predictable. There are five trails with different terrain and challenges, making it a place for hikers, runners and mountain bikers.

Kids can ride their bikes. Families can explore. Someone can spend hours covering miles or simply take a short walk through the woods.

“You feel like you’re in the middle of the wilderness,” Tara says. “You feel so in tune with nature. You’re in a different world.”

Having a place like this nearby is a tremendous asset.

Just start walking

Tara is proud of the mountains she has climbed. She is proud of the miles she can cover now. She is proud of the Tetons and the adventures that once seemed impossible.

But when she talks about how she got here, her advice is remarkably simple.

“It’s just one foot in front of the other,” she says. “Don’t focus on 10 miles. Focus on one step.”

That’s how her transformation began.

One step became another. A short walk became a longer one. A hill became a mountain. A difficult hike became evidence that she could do something she once thought she couldn’t.

The process was gradual, but the effect was profound.

For Tara, Big Canoe Creek Nature Preserve has been part of learning how to take care of herself.

“It has saved my life,” she says. “Not just physically, emotionally.”

Sometimes the next adventure begins with something as simple as taking a walk in the woods.

One foot in front of the other.