Hi! My name is Regina, and I am so excited that you are interested in Hikeabilities! I have been a pediatric occupational therapist for 8 years, working with children of varying abilities from ages birth through 21 in school-based and outpatient settings. In addition to occupational therapy and working with little ones, I enjoy spending time with friends and my big family, exploring the outdoors, and staying active most especially through hiking. I have dreamt about starting a program that blends my professional and personal passions together for quite some time now and decided to finally take the leap. Welcome to Hikeabilities I was born and raised "outside of Philadelphia", attended Penn State for undergrad, and received my Masters of Science degree in Occupational Therapy at Salus University (now at Drexel University). I have always had an adventurous heart, so upon passing my boards I packed up my silver Elantra and drove about as far as I possibly could in the continental US to arrive in sunny San Diego. While this is where my professional career began, it is also where my passion for the outdoors and nature blossomed. When the world just about shut down in 2020, I hit a point where I was going stir-crazy. I had already completed the 1000-piece puzzle, purchased the pasta maker and conquered homemade mushroom and goat cheese ravioli, taken on painting as a 12-hour hobby for a solid day, and found a home-exercise program that I loved but could only do so many workouts from a screen on a yoga mat using wine bottles as weights. And we were only on day 6 of quarantine. This is when walking became my therapy. I would walk along the bay and shoreline, through parks and neighborhoods. It provided a time and space to calm my mind while allowing my body to move. As daily walks continued, monthly hikes along trails across San Diego County also became habitual. These hikes challenged me both physically and mentally. Luckily, I had met a great little group of friends who contributed to both the fun and social-emotional support that always ensured a positive experience. Over the next couple of years following, I traveled all over the western region of the country to hike in the National Parks, falling in love with the uniqueness each one presented with. My appreciation for nature grew tremendously during these visits, where the vastly diverse outdoor scapes allowed me to take in the world in ways I didn’t know possible. I walked through trees instead of around them in Sequoia. I climbed up 21 steep switchbacks in Zion. I spotted rainbows reflecting off waterfalls thousands of feet tall in Yosemite. I body-sled down the side of snowy Mount Rainier. I balanced alongside desert cliffs in Arches. I clapped and stomped like a crazy woman to alert grizzly bears in the Tetons. I watched the most electrifying sunset in Death Valley. How fortunate was I? Shouldn't everyone have the opportunity to get a taste of these sensory provoking natural experiences? When my time on the west coast concluded and I completed my second cross-country trek (in my same silver Elantra but this time with an additional moving pod shipped separately), I arrived back in PA. This is when the initial sparks for my vision of Hikeabilities ignited. I wanted to create something that encouraged people of all abilities to engulf themselves in nature as I have and will continue to do. With my occupational therapy background in mind, this felt like the perfect way to blend my personal and professional passions together and turn my dream into a reality.