amaruq
Trail Wise!
Call me Little Spoon
Posts: 1,264
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Post by amaruq on May 3, 2016 9:12:34 GMT -8
At the risk of sounding pretentious, I'll concede that I like to hike to center myself. It's noncommittal time to relax and re-evaluate what's going on in my life, postpone some responsibilities, and otherwise enjoy mental silence and solitude.
Plus the sense of adventure (and in some cases awe) I get if I'm in a new place.
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Post by paula53 on May 3, 2016 9:45:23 GMT -8
I hike to get out, feel the breeze, and experience nature. To hear coyotes howl in the evening is music to my ears In our hectic day to day lives, sitting at computers, commuting, and the endless traffic jams, the chance to get away is priceless. I enjoy backpacking, from planning,to the trailhead, to the campsite. I just wish that my husband or sons can remember what it was like and come with me.
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rebeccad
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Writing like a maniac
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Post by rebeccad on May 3, 2016 13:43:15 GMT -8
I hike because I like to hike. I suppose I could consider why that is, but I know I have wanted to backpack from an early age, and as soon as I was able I started to do so at every opportunity.
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johnnyray
Trail Wise!
Argle-Bargle, Jiggery-Pokery, and Applesauce
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Post by johnnyray on May 3, 2016 15:11:26 GMT -8
I love the rhythm of walking, it seems to reboot my brain. I also can't wait to see what's over the next hill or around the next bend.
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Post by High Sierra Fan on May 3, 2016 15:31:21 GMT -8
I am totally not a morning person and so, backpacking is my way of getting to spend mornings in the backcountry.
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Post by hikerchick395 on May 3, 2016 16:37:31 GMT -8
amarug...I postpone a lot of responsibilities
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 3, 2016 19:51:33 GMT -8
Why not hike? How is it that I need a reason? I eat because I'm hungry. I drink because I'm thirsty. I sleep because I'm sleepy. I hike because I feel like hiking. Oh sure, I could list innumerable benefits. But that doesn't mean they constitute my reasons. Humans are not purely rational creatures. Spock only exists in the movies. Why do I enjoy living? I don't need a reason. I just hike.
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Post by Grizzly James on May 4, 2016 5:47:32 GMT -8
I once tramped with trail cronie of whom I dare say, liked to hike. Boy he could put on the miles. Mile after mile we would go. Over hill and cliche dale. It was early on in our trail partnership, and we didn't really know each other's style that well. He did not, for example, know that I am partial to a good nap along side a gurgling stream. And I did not know he was an ex-marathon athlete, and that he never quite feels "warmed up" until he's got a good 15 or so miles under his belt. It was a trail union that never should have worked.
We would continually march by a scattered array of fine napping spots, and my head would pan longingly as I plodded past them. Eyes droopy, like a wayward beagle. How I longed to sprawl in the weeds over there, and gaze up through the forest canopy. But we were ever on the march, you see, wheezing up the cardiac switch backs, bent on Point B. It's not that I don't like hiking. I can gleam the same jollies, I think, that big-mile hikers do. I can appreciate the rhythm, and how a good stroll can lubricate the mind, and clear the cob webs of the soul. And those are some delightful side effects of long hikes, I cannot deny. But I do not hike just for hiking's sake. I hike because it gets me there. If it were just about putting one foot in front of another, and hiking, well I could save a lot of gas and just do the same thing back in town. But taking to the wilder places has always been about more than just hiking, to me. Hiking just gets me there. The hike is sort of like the usher, of whom escorts thee unto the enchanted and wild lands patron to your dreams. The hike is our parlay to freedom.
Eventually, after a few trips afield, the marathoner and I merged our styles into some sort of thing resembling compromise. He would slow down for me, and I would hike further for him. I think it was a fair trade. I would like to think that he got to smell the proverbial flowers a little more, and on the flip side, I got to go further and deeper into the wilderness folds than I might not have otherwise. And we hiked a lot of locales, he and I did over the years. And saw sights that still echo in the recesses of my soul. The wilderness experience, if you will. And that, by and far, is probably a good a reason as any, to go for a hike. Amen.
-GJ
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amaruq
Trail Wise!
Call me Little Spoon
Posts: 1,264
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Post by amaruq on May 4, 2016 5:51:00 GMT -8
Why not hike? How is it that I need a reason? I eat because I'm hungry. I drink because I'm thirsty. I sleep because I'm sleepy. I hike because I feel like hiking. Oh sure, I could list innumerable benefits. But that doesn't mean they constitute my reasons. Humans are not purely rational creatures. Spock only exists in the movies. Why do I enjoy living? I don't need a reason. I just hike. Do you hike because it's there?
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Post by Lamebeaver on May 4, 2016 6:30:11 GMT -8
Kind of counter-intuitive, but when I'm alone in the wilderness, miles away from anyone else, I become acutely aware of my insignificance in the grand scheme of the universe, and all of my petty little problems and struggles just melt away.
There's also a certain satisfaction in being able to be completely self-dependent.
Staring at a small cooking fire at dusk, or staring up at the stars in the sky, I feel a sense of kinship with our ancestors, who shared this common experience ever since the first humans walked the earth.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 4, 2016 7:34:37 GMT -8
For millions of years natural selection favored in my emerging species the ability to walk. Did natural selection ask "Why would Homo sapiens walk?" before making a decision to favor that ability? I doubt it. Walking and hiking are simply abilities natural selection favored in our species. So we say that those activities come natural, or are instinctual. It is unnecessary for us to ask, "Should I move?" It is unnecessary for us to ponder and deliberate over pros and cons. We simply do what it is natural for us to do.
Natural selection favored pronghorn fawns that could stand up within minutes of being born. But does the pronghorn fawn deliberate over the decision to stand? Should I or should I not? I doubt it. The pronghorn fawn simply stretches its limbs and stands up because it "feels" like doing so. Shortly afterward it begins walking. The progression from birth to walking did not require careful delineation of logic. The pronghorn fawn simply did what natural selection favored it to do.
I walk, I hike because natural selection favored that activity in my species. The decision does not require an ego contemplating complicated logic. The pronghorn fawn had those abilities within minutes of being born. The fact that those abilities take our species longer to develop does not mean that they are any less natural.
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davesenesac
Trail Wise!
Our precious life is short within eternity, don't waste it!
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Post by davesenesac on May 4, 2016 10:04:25 GMT -8
Most young children are limited to where they can go, to their homes and yards with an occasional trip down the street with Mom to her gal friends. That is when little Timmy gets to play with little Jimmy while Mom visits her friend Carol. And there Timmy gets to walk about in someone's novel yard. And then there are trips with Mom for groceries. Oh what fun it is when Mom's cart gets to the candy and toy isles! Around and around and back out to the car the most exciting part of his day. And as little Timmy approaches kindergarten age, he notices how Mom lets his older 7 year old brother Billy go down the street on his own to play with his friend Danny leaving him all alone in the yard. But when he asks Mom if he can walk down the street to play with Jimmy, Mom says "We'll go over to Carol's tomorrow." So from an early age many kids cannot wait for the day when they are permitted more freedom to roam. As I grew up in outer suburban Sacramento where there were endless natural areas with trees, fields, and myriad creatures, and fish, all we young school-age kids endlessly vanished from our homes. We all had bicycles and rode them within a few miles freely but at some point the bikes ended up at the end of some lonely road where we would ramble off on foot. (Ah the trusting era before bike thefts!) And usually that was near some creek where there were dragonflies, butterflies, pollywogs, frogs, crawdads, and fish. Oh yeah fish! And all about the creeks were lots of big trees, especially oaks that were so fun to climb and the source of endless games. And then too we lived near orchards as we freely ate their goods. And how fun was the game throwing rotten apples at each other where each of us were in different trees! And in that era all the schools from kindergarten to high schools had enormous grassy fields with multiple baseball diamonds and all manner of swings, monkey bars, dodge ball squares, tether ball poles, basketball courts, and all. And every time the recess bell rang, every young guy was GONE from the room before the bell stopped echoing. So as we get older, the freedom to walk, ramble, and explore on foot grows. It is a vehicle to go places and do things. But by high school age many lose the interest in walking about as it has become too ordinary and our lives focus on more interpersonal and sedentary activities. And after school years the automobile replaces what walking once offered. In a car in this modern human era one can go to endless places that would make our ancestors, even kings and royalty, extremely jealous. And at many of those places one might walk about minor distances. But vehicles are limited to roads and there are vast natural places well beyond pavement that everyone on this board has come to value and enjoy. Although some hike for the physical activity itself for more of us, we hike to experience and go places and do things. David www.davidsenesac.com/2016_Trip_Chronicles/2016_Trip-Chronicles-0.html
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amaruq
Trail Wise!
Call me Little Spoon
Posts: 1,264
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Post by amaruq on May 4, 2016 10:29:36 GMT -8
It is unnecessary for us to ask, "Should I move?" It is unnecessary for us to ponder and deliberate over pros and cons. Ha! Try telling me that when I first wake up in the morning.
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GaliWalker
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Have camera, will use.
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Post by GaliWalker on May 4, 2016 11:15:19 GMT -8
As I get older I realize that what motivates me is not necessarily what motivates others. Also, my way is not necessarily the only or best path. I used to snobbishly think that if anyone else hikes for reasons that aren't the same as mine they're doing it wrong. GaliWalker bad! So, to square away the differences, in my own mind, as a cure for my snobbishness, I decided to quantify the various motivating factors for people who spend time in the outdoors. Here is what I came up with: 1- People who want a challenge (e.g. those who climb peaks, ultramarathoners) 2- People who want to enjoy nature and maybe photograph it (e.g. me!) 3- People who want some exercise 4- People who want to get away from their day-day routines 5- Other reasons which I have not quantified yet (it would be pretty arrogant of me to assume I've thought of all motivating factors) In my experience, almost everyone has a primary motivation from the list above, supplemented to some extent by one or more (or even all, as in my case) of the above reasons. Speaking for myself, once I'd formulated the theory above I noticed that I stopped questioning the motivations of others. To have an explanation for a thing is to not get annoyed by it. Much calm ensued.
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cajun
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GEAUX TIGERS!!
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Post by cajun on May 4, 2016 18:10:21 GMT -8
But when I thought about it a little more I came to the conclusion that the chief reason I hike is that I just plain like to walk. I like walking, too. I grew up walking in the woods, but we never called it anything so lofty as "hiking." Wanderlust is in my (our) DNA. Definitely in mine. I get it legitimately ... my mom and other family are the same! (Except that one cousin who canceled a trip to Italy because an American was killed in London.)
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