How I Accidentally Became Obsessed with Trig Points

Photo by my talented friend, Brendan - @explorewithbrendan

In October 2020, I set up an Instagram page called @trigsandteeth to document a challenge I'd set myself during the Covid lockdowns. I never imagined that little page would grow into a community of over 50,000 people!

People often ask me where the name @trigsandteeth came from…

... I became slightly obsessed with trig points. 😅 And trig points make me smile (just to clear up the FAQ: I’m not a dentist).

I didn't discover hiking in 2020. I'd been walking in the hills for as long as I can remember. Growing up, weekends were spent outdoors with my dad, who loved walking and rock climbing. Some of my happiest childhood memories were made on gritstone edges like Stanage and Burbage, and exploring caves in the Derbyshire Dales.

But after losing my dad to suicide in 2009, and having just started in my first job as a primary school teacher, I went into survival mode for a while. Ten years later, I found myself carrying a weight I hadn't realised I was still holding. I went to the GP and was diagnosed with PTSD, depression and anxiety and signed off work.

Delayed grief had hit me in the face like a truck.

In 2019, I decided to go for my very first solo hike. I chose Mam Tor and The Great Ridge as it was a very familiar route.

But it wasn't just any route. It was the last place I spent the last day with my dad a week before he died.

Bopping my hand on that trig point that day in May, right before the 10th anniversary of my dad’s death, brought back memories that weren’t awful flashbacks. They were happy memories and they brought me closer to my dad in the best possible way.

I was also completely alone (Mam Tor wasn’t TikTok famous then!) and I felt capable of feeling good in my own company again. I could get through this as long as I could get in the hills.

Whilst I was sat on the ridge with a flask of tea and a marmite sandwich (don’t judge me!) with a view of Kinder Scout across the Edale valley, a new desire was born to summit all of the hills I could see ahead of me…but I had very little navigation skills at that point.

So I started to buy maps, guide books, downloaded map apps and watched YouTube videos to learn map and compass skills. I started to head out on easy walks so I didn’t worry about getting lost. Then I started noticing random concrete pillars on lots of the summits.

I knew they were ‘trig points’ because my dad used to point them out, but I had no idea what they were or why they were there (learn about them here).

But for some reason, I felt ridiculously happy every time I reached one.

So I started looking for more.

In a moment of madness (which seems to be a recurring theme in my life...), I decided I wanted to visit every trig point in the Peak District National Park.

Being an obsessive collector of things since being a kid, it was so satisfying every time I bagged a trig and could tick it off my list! Thanks to https://peakdistrictwalks.net/ for providing the lists and the walk inspo.

But it wasn’t just about ticking the boxes. Each trig point became an excuse to explore somewhere I'd never been before and on every hike, I was learning more about maps and becoming more confident with navigating much more remote terrain.

Off-path, in the middle of a quiet moor, was my new favourite place to be.

In December 2022, on my birthday, I completed the Peak District Trig Challenge. I had visited all 88 trig points in the National Park.

Erm…now what?

After completing my local trig challenge, I felt a bit lost. The challenge gave me a focus and a purpose for my walks.

What came next?

Well, my brain doesn't really do "finished". 😂

By then, the challenge had become so much bigger than ticking concrete pillars off a list. Every trig point had taught me something new, whether it was about the landscape, the history, or my growing confidence with a map and compass.

I realised I'd fallen in love with exploring, not just collecting.

So instead of stopping, I set myself another challenge. The Ethels.

The Ethels are 95 prominent hills in the Peak District, named in honour of conservationist Ethel Haythornthwaite, who played a key role in the establishment and protection of the Peak District National Park.

I also decided that if I was going to spend this much time in the hills, I wanted to do it properly. I threw myself into learning everything I could about navigation, weather, group management and safety, eventually qualifying as a Hill and Moorland Leader in July 2022.

The more I learnt, the more I wanted to share it.

Before long, I wasn't just heading into the hills on my own anymore—I was taking other people with me. Peak Outdoor Community was born!

Somewhere along the way, what had started as a way of coping with grief slowly became a career.

On my birthday in 2023, I stood on the final Ethel (a pile of stones in the middle of a bog on Kinder Scout) and completed another challenge.

For a while, I thought that might be enough.

(It wasn't.)

As always, my mind started wandering. Erm…what’s next, Em?

Over the following couple of years, I found myself travelling further afield, enjoying bagging Wainwrights in the Lake District and summiting mountains in Snowdonia.

By 2025, I finally decided it was time to take the plunge and book my Mountain Leader training. I completed this in May, followed by my assessment just four months later. On 5th September 2025, I became a qualifed ML 🥹

Then I had another terrible idea...

I started wondering...

"How many mountains in England have trig points on their summits?"

Turns out...

Quite a few 😅

Enough that most sensible people would quietly think, "That sounds interesting," and then proceed to slowly visit them over several years.

Instead...

I created The Trigalls Challenge.

The idea is simple.

Visit every English Nuttall with a trig point on (or very close to) its summit.

Simple to explain. Much harder to complete.

Especially when you decide to give yourself 52 weeks to do it before your 40th birthday... without first checking how far apart they all are. 🤦🏼‍♀️

Some are just around the corner.

Others require six-hour drives, two nights away, a weather window, and a very understanding husband.

I regret nothing.

Well... ask me again when I'm driving home from Cornwall 😂

Fancy joining the challenge?

One of the things I love most is bumping into other people who've caught the trig bug.

So I've put together my Trigalls Challenge List for anyone who fancies giving it a go too.

Whether you tick off one... or all of them...

I hope they take you to places you never knew existed (get ready for the bogs in the North Pennines 😂).

Happy trig-bagging. 🗺️🏔️

And if our paths cross beside a windswept trig point somewhere, please come and say hello. I'd love to hear how you're getting on. ❤️

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Why I started POC

Hi, I’m Emily, founder of POC and I wanted to kick off this blog with my WHY for starting Peak Outdoor Community.

The answer begins long before I ever became a Mountain Leader.

I've loved being outdoors since I was a child, but in 2009 my world changed forever when my dad died by suicide. The last time I saw him, just a week before he died, we spent the day walking together along The Great Ridge in the Peak District.

Then, ten years later, during one of the most difficult periods of my own life, I found myself needing the outdoors more than ever. I was off work with my mental health and one day, when I was really battling with my own thoughts, I returned to the very place I'd last walked with my dad.

That became my first solo hike.

It was emotional, overwhelming and incredibly healing all at once. I didn't realise it at the time, but that walk changed the direction of my life.

I started exploring more of the countryside, teaching myself to navigate with a map and compass (with plenty of help from YouTube and a few wrong turns along the way!). Wanting to learn properly, I booked onto a navigation course before joining Mountain Training to work towards my Hill and Moorland Leader Award. Since then, I've gone on to qualify as a Mountain Leader and now spend my time helping others discover the confidence and freedom that the outdoors has given me.

But Peak Outdoor Community isn't really about hills and mountains. It's about people.

It's about creating a place where women feel welcome, supported and encouraged to step outside their comfort zone. A place where friendships are formed, confidence grows and every adventure reminds us just how capable we really are.

The outdoors didn't take away my grief, but it taught me how to carry it.

If Peak Outdoor Community can help even one woman find a little more confidence, joy or peace in the outdoors, then every mile we've walked together has been worthwhile.

I'm so glad you're here, and I hope you'll join us on an adventure soon.