On a warm Thursday morning in September, a dozen women climb
from three cars at the Little Elk Creek trailhead.
Kathy Maszaros pulls on a baseball cap, while Linda Maas and
several others grab their walking sticks from a car's trunk.
With water bottles in hand and hiking boots laced, they fall
into a swift and steady hiking pace up the Little Elk Creek
trail.
For the past 11 years, this group of mostly retired women,
known as Chix in the Stix, has been hiking trails in the Black
Hills every week.
The group gathers every Thursday morning at Fitzgerald Stadium
in Rapid City. Members take turns choosing a trail to hike, as well
as picking a location for lunch. Group communicator Maas keeps the
group in sync with e-mails and phone calls.
Chix in the Stix got its start in 1996 when friends Karen
Richards and Kathy Benson hiked the Centennial Trail. The pair
spent five weeks doing sections of the trail. When they were done,
they didn't want to stop.
"Once you start hiking, it gets in your blood," Richards
said.
As the pair continued to hike together, their friends joined
them. Very quickly, a group of dedicated hikers emerged, and Benson
dubbed the group Chix in the Stix. Today, the group has about 30
members - so many in fact, that they've stopped taking members. "We
sort of exploded," Maas said.
Most weeks, about a dozen members hike together. They hike
year-round, rain or shine. During the winter months, they sometimes
strap on snow shoes. "We don't let weather hold us back," Richards
said.
They usually hike Harney Peak at least once a year, as well as
Crow Peak near Spearfish. They make trips to the Badlands National
Park and Bear Butte. Most hikes average about five miles.
"We just go every direction, and it's kind of up to the person
in charge," said member Barb Knight. "We have great hikes and we
see the hills in a way you just never see them unless you're out in
them"
Bobbie Paradis agrees. "We're seeing places in the Black Hills
I'd never seen before."
The group has come across elk, wild turkey, grouse and
buffalo. They carry whistles to scare off mountain lions, but the
members aren't too worried about that particular encounter. "We
make too much noise," laughed Paradis.
The group also plans an annual trip each June. This year, they
hiked in Winter Park, Colo. "That's when we have a ton of fun,"
said Kamie Hurd.
For most of the women, the socialization has become as
important as the exercise and adventure. Conversations tend to
include everything imaginable, said Paradis. "The fellowship with
the other women - it's great therapy."
As they make their way up the Little Elk Creek Trail on this
particular Thursday, the Chix in the Stix hikers keep up a steady
stream of soft conversation. The group laughs a lot, both on and
off the trail.
Knight, who wasn't much of a hiker before joining the group in
2000, loves everything about the Chix in the Stix. For her, it's
been an experience of a lifetime.
"It really has been so fun," she said. "I've met a lot of
people who I didn't know before. You just get to know them better
when you do something like this week after week."
Lynn Taylor Rick can be reached at
lynn.taylorrick@rapidictyjournal.com or 394-8414.
