Three Good Outdoor Activities During COVID-19 Pandemic
Just because we are still in the COVID-19 pandemic which will be expected to continue for many months until everyone is vaccinated, it doesn’t mean that you have to been stuck indoors all the time. In fact, it’s not healthy to be staying indoors 24 hours per day especially when living in close quarters with other people and if the air inside is not well circulated. Instead of staying inside all the time, get outdoors especially to places where there are not crowds and lots of fresh air and nature.
Here are three good outdoor activities I will do throughout the pandemic that are good for both the body and soul. They keep your body active so there are fitness benefits and give your mind a break from the boredom of constant home.
Outdoor Hiking With Or Without Dogs
When the temperatures outside were not too hot nor cold for my Lhasa Apso dog Roxie, we’ve been getting outside. We’ll try to hit the places where there are few people around and many nature trails fit into this category. On weekends, we’ve been getting together with some of Roxie’s dog friends and their owners for easy trail walks. For the humans, it’s extremely easy to maintain proper physical distancing from each other during these dog walks.
So if you have a dog, there is really no excuse not to get outdoors with your pet. And if your dog has friends, even better since group dog walks are not only social for the dogs but also for the humans as well but in a safe environment even during the pandemic. Just keep maintain physical distancing and everyone both people and dogs benefit.
Even if you don’t have a dog, it’s still beneficial to get outdoors and hike. Try to find trails that are not as popular with crowds so you may have to go out further from the city or find the hidden gems that few people know about but they are out there if you look for them.
Scuba Diving Locally As Great Water Activity
Another activity which turned out to be an ideal outdoor one during this pandemic for me is scuba diving. Although I’ve been a scuba diver for years, I never really thought much about diving locally in Ontario waters much since compared to tropical destinations, the water is colder with poorer visibility and much less interesting things to see in our lakes and rivers compared to oceans down south. But a group of us who are all certified scuba divers decided to give it a try and to our surprise, we all got together to dive locally all within Ontario pretty well each weekend all summer and fall seasons long.
This was by far the most local scuba diving I and most of our other divers in our group have ever done. On land, we kept physically distanced but once in the water, it’s a totally different world. So not only did scuba diving give us something active to do, it was also a safe way to socialize with other people despite COVID-19. Although there were few curious non-diving onlookers near the dive sites we went to, in general most of the public did not come anywhere near where we were diving so these locations were very much in a niche group of places.
With winter approaching, our dive season has ended but since our dive season was so successful, our group can’t wait to do an even longer local season next year. Even as we have put away our dive gear for the winter, several of us from our scuba diving group will continue together with the third activity which I’ll describe next. But if you are located in a tropical location, you can continue to scuba dive throughout the pandemic especially if you have your own dive gear.
Snow Skiing Is Perfect Winter Outdoor Activity During Pandemic
The third outdoor activity that I’m doing is snow skiing which takes over from scuba diving since both are seasonal activities. The ski resorts now with better preparation compared to when the pandemic first started, will open for skiing. However there will be changes like limiting the number of skiers on the mountain and how indoor facilities will be used. But the good thing is that there will be skiing and being outside in the winter will be probably the safest place to be in especially when those infected with COVID-19 will likely be indoors.
Again, skiers will be able to be physically distanced quite easily on the ski slopes along with changes on how the lifts operate. Our ski group has already made plans on how we will be rolling with the changes to take place in the ski world. Most of our entire schedule all the way to the end of March has already been posted at our ski group website where we have ski days focused on ski lessons for all levels from first time beginners all the way through to advanced skiers.
These three activities described above are just how I’m making the best of being outdoors during this COVID-19 pandemic. Everyone should be able to come up with some that suit them as well. The main thing is to get outdoors rather than stay inside.
