take a Hike!

          Exploring hiking trails can be a spiritual, inspirational, relaxing, or healing experience.  For me, it’s just plain fun!  Recently someone asked me why I hike, and I was dumbstruck for a moment.  It’s so much a part of me, and what I do, that I really had to stop to consider a response.  It was as if someone had asked “why do you breathe?”

            I can tell you what it’s not.  It’s not a search for myself, because it’s just a part of me. It’s not an attempt to overcome obstacles or find meaning, although I find that when I’m hiking I have the time to think things through, and my head clears. It’s not a quest for a spiritual experience, although I believe tall trees make great cathedrals.

I don’t hike to escape anything, although escaping from noise and chaos does me good. I don’t pursue walking as a form of exercise, but it fulfills that role for me anyway. I don’t take to the trail to feel close to nature; I feel close to nature, so I hit the trail.

And each trail has its own benefit for me. Sometimes I just want something for an easy weekend hike and camping. When I wanted to introduce my 11-year old to hiking and backpacking, we headed to the nearest state park, and worked our way through the progressively longer trails there. I may be looking for spare and simplified, or full of history, or to challenge myself with an all out survive-on-your-own backpacking trip in the wilds.

Wherever the trail leads you, and for whatever reason you feel compelled to walk, follow the urge. You’ll find exactly what you’re looking for, and maybe more than you expected.