I started hiking a few years ago by joining some meetup.com groups that arranged trips in the UAE and Oman. Back then there were only a handful of groups doing it. Now every other day I seem to find a new one.

What drove me to meetup.com was to find something  new to do. I was attracted by the outdoors but never knew where to start. I bought myself a Jeep Wrangler and started joining groups that went off to the desert and to abandoned villages in the mountains. What started off with simple driving and camping trips with strangers, made me find people and experiences that made fall in love with the mountains. I seemed to wanted to explore more and push myself even more.

Within months, I met people who targeted to climb up Kilimanjaro and I started to train hard and prepare myself for it. From there, my journey took off to climb higher mountains, improve my outdoor skills and aim for the seven summits.

But other than that, I loved the magnetic appeal of the mountains, the serenity amd the ability to get into and be in the moment while walking, what I later discovered to be meditation.

Are you into the outdoors? How did you start?