A Year-End Review of Adventure with Hiking with Shawn in 2024

Welcome to my Year-End Review of Hiking with Shawn.

I used to make year-end review videos, which I called Rewinds after YouTube Rewinds. But it takes time to do those and better planning, which I need to improve on. So, I’m writing a blog instead, and it just so happens to be the first blog post of 2025.

I hope you enjoy my year-end review of Hiking with Shawn for the 2024 season!

Year-End Review of Hiking with Shawn in 2024

The mission of Hiking with Shawn is to promote tourism and support local businesses through the ethical promotion of outdoor recreation in the Shawnee National Forest and Southern Illinois state parks.

The purpose of this Year-End Review of Hiking with Shawn is to celebrate milestones and victories of the Hiking with Shawne brand during 2024. I’ll also share the challenges of the year. Finally, I’ll share what the future holds for Hiking with Shawn.

Hiking with Shawn could never happen, though, if it wasn’t for all of you who have supported this all these years.

Key Achievements in 2024

The Hiking with Shawn social media networks significantly grew during 2024.

There was a total of 4.5 million views on Facebook, and 7.9K followers added throughout 2024. About 171K views and 575 followers were added on Instagram for the year. I also racked up 558.2K views on X with 292 additional followers added.

Hiking with Shawn also grew on YouTube during the 2024 season.

In total, we had 430,640 views of YouTube during 2024, with 7,293.7 hours of watch time. 1,075 new subscribers came aboard during 2024, and I posted 202 Shorts, 160 videos, and 2 live streams during 2024. My most popular video of 2024 was Devil’s Well—Ozark National Scenic Riverways, with 2.9K views, and Endless Awesomeness was the most popular Short, with 14.7K views.

The Hiking with Shawn blog also had a good year in 2024.

I posted a total of 395 blog posts with 1,326 comments added to them. There were 518,441 views, with Monday, Sunday, and Wednesday being the most popular days for reading my blog. My blog post was my Oboz Hiking Boots review post.

Hiking with Shawn has definitely had a great year in terms of social media, YouTube, and the blog.

Memorable Adventures and Projects

My biggest and best memory of 2024 was marrying Michelle Cochran.

We got married on top of High Knob on August 15th. I turned 40 the next day, and we drove down to Cades Cove in Tennessee for a week-long honeymoon in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. We visited Clingman’s Dome, hiked on the AT, and saw a total of 16 different Black Bears along with cubs, too.

We went on some awesome hikes in 2024.

We explored parts of the forest we’ve never been to on both sides of the National Forest. We also enjoyed many out-of-state hikes in Tennessee, Missouri, and Kentucky. In 2024, we hiked nearly 500 miles.

I accomplished a lot through organizations during 2024 as well.

I decided to leave Friends of the Shawnee National Forest and the River to River Trail Society to give myself a break from being on so many boards. I successfully formed Friends of the Tunnel Hill State Trail, a 501C3 NPO that supports the Tunnel Hill State Trail. I also saw the success of the Shawnee Challenge, a Southernmost Illinois Tourism campaign that I invented.

I got to partner up with a lot of great people and organizations in 2024, too.

I did a few projects with my good friends Senator Dale Fowler and Jared Long of Southern Illinois Cinema (Jared also officiated our wedding!). I’ve done quite a few Sasquatch-related things this year, including participating in the Annual Sasquatch Festival in Harrisburg. I even got to participate in a trash cleanup with Jeep’N Shawnee and the US Forest Service at Eagle Mountain.

As you can see, 2024 was packed full of adventures for us at Hiking with Shawn.

Challenges Faced and Lessons Learned

There were a few challenges to deal with during the 2024 season.

I made a few enemies. Between felons who graffiti the Shawnee National Forest, those who support people who graffiti the forest, and angry herpers who hate my truck, it’s safe to say that some people don’t like me. I smiled and noted that my community was very supportive of me. The only change I made was installing surveillance equipment in my truck for safety reasons.

I also became overwhelmed with everything I was doing this year.

I used to be on about six different non-profit boards, and it was becoming overwhelming to dedicate myself to them all, keep up with Hiking with Shawn, and live my normal life. I decided to leave a few boards and focus more on my stuff, and that really improved my life. In 2024, I learned to say No Thank You and try to put my own things first, so I didn’t neglect them.

The 2024 season wasn’t that bad for the most part.

Community Engagement and Impact

Some of my biggest accomplishments each year involve supporting my local communities and the businesses within them.

Southern Illinois is, in my opinion, the best place on earth. There is nothing I want to do more than support the communities and all the mom-and-pop businesses in the region. As a local business myself, it really fills me with joy to be able to do something that supports these awesome communities and businesses scattered around Southern Illinois and the Shawnee National Forest.

Helping communities and businesses is a big part of my mission, after all.

Goals for 2025

I have quite a few goals and objectives for 2025 that I’d love to share with you all:

1. I hope to grow my YouTube channel to 10K subscribers. We’re at around 6K right now. I want to emphasize my channel, improve video quality, and do more live-streaming events. I also want to start podcasting.
2. I hope to grow my Patreon Community into something bigger than what it is today. I’ll be adding more daily content, behind-the-scenes footage, sneak peeks, and more for the members on there. Consider becoming a Patreon for as little as $3 a month today!
3. I plan to start posting two blog posts a week on the Hiking with Shawn blog in 2025. My ultimate goal is to get it up to 3 posts a week but I want to gradually increase it so that I don’t overwhelm myself.
4. I’d love to grow my social media pages as well. I’m at around 22K followers on Facebook and would love to get to about 50K in 2025. I’d also love to hit around 10K on both Instagram and X in 2025. I also want to grow my presence on Threads, Bluesky, and Pinterest more this year.
5. I plan to advertise my private paid hiking and biking guide service more. I’ll soon be available for hire on Saturdays and Sundays. As we approach the spring months, I plan to offer more free group hikes on the weekends.
6. I want to do more backpacking videos where we film overnight hiking adventures for your enjoyment. I’d love to even do some bushcraft stuff since that is becoming increasingly popular, and I know a thing or two about it.
7. Michelle and I have talked about a new video series in which I do virtual hikes. These videos will focus on making you feel like you’re out there hiking the trails we hike. This will be a free service meant for those who can’t get out there anymore.
8. I’m going all in on my Friends of the Tunnel Hill State Trail organization. I’ll also be co-directing the second annual Tour de Tunnel bike ride this year. I’m also going to do the Dirty South Roubaix bike race again, this time the 100K in March.

As you can see, I’m making sure that I have plenty of stuff to work on in 2025 but also not trying to work myself to death.

Year-End Review of Hiking with Shawn Conclusion

Hiking with Shawn turned 8 years old in 2024.

I could have never accomplished what I’ve accomplished in 8 years without your support. You have made Hiking with Shawn what it is today, and I’m super thankful for you all. I’m proud to call all of you my friends because I’d rather have a bunch of friends than a bunch of followers.

I would love to hear from you. Comment below and tell me your goals and objectives for 2025!

If you haven’t already, be sure to join my new hiking and backpacking forum. It’s free, and there are no ads. Join today at The Hiking Forum.

If you’d like to support me even further, feel free to leave me a one-time tip for the blog post or support me on a monthly basis by becoming a Patreon supporter of Hiking with Shawn.

I also offer a free monthly newsletter with hiking tips, reviews, and information about upcoming events in the Shawnee National Forest.

And until next time, folks, I’ll see you on the trail!