[Lookout Sue]

I go for the smells. There's nothing like the scent of subalpine fir on a hot summer day! The leathery waxy smell of snowbrush just makes my nose quiver. The flora is a huge draw for me too. The myriad shades of paintbrush and columbine always amaze me. I also have to say that hiking in the mountains is such great exercise, and doing so in the cool clean air beats sucking in car exhaust in the city.

[Quark]

I was mainly responding to the close-in post by gaeger and did not address all of the reasons why I go hiking. There are many and they don't stop at what it can do for me. For instance, I marvel at the wilderness for it's own sake. I'm too lazy to look it up, but I went into all that on a HMMMMM thread somewhere. But the reasons don't stop even at this post or that one - they go back further, continue on. Reasons for going hiking are as vast as the question itself. The reasons change day hike by hike, day by day, mile by mile. Sometimes I don't even know why, and I don't care. I just go. Regarding self-centeredness; if that's why I enjoy going hiking on occasion, then that's why I enjoy going hiking. If more people could do that, maybe the world would be a better place and ipods and cellphones wouldn't be the crutch they are now. Experiencing Central Washington the way I do is one reason I go back; it's not just me, it's what nature does to me, and trying to fathom it's all-at-once powerful force.

[Allison]

[Quark]

[jimmymac]

Like most things, hiking affects me on four different levels. On an instinctive level, hiking satisfies an itch to be threatened by, and prevail over, something that is much bigger and more powerful than me. Emotionally speaking, there’s the fact that I get out far less frequently than many. My dozen or so trips per year provide the only real break I get from the constant collaboration required by life. Playing uncompromising autocrat for a day is very therapeutic. It gives me a chance to discharge deferred selfishness. If I got out more, this would change, 'cause a little bit of solo goes a long way. Then there’s the cold, intellectual angle: After getting a taste of challenging destinations, I have a better appreciation of the physical capacity needed to visit such places. I hike partly because I know it nudges me toward more healthy living. I have a good feel for the unit cost of weight and bulk reduction in gear. Controlling my personal "low-density load” - for FREE - provides unmatched motivation for exercise and good eating. As a "returning hiker," I see my physical condition approaching what is was 15 years ago. Spiritually speaking, hiking is like cleaning the windshield that I keep between myself and daily urban life. I like people and all sorts of human interaction; I usually keep my side window rolled down more than a lot of folks. But in managing excess input, the windshield takes quite a beating and needs periodic maintenance. Hiking allows a reduction in speed, and it nearly halts the flow of new projectiles toward my sensory windshield. Very quickly, I experience a stripping away of the debris that has peppered that windshield into a wall of sorts. My senses don’t really become more powerful. Rather, the shielding of those senses fades to nothing with a hike. The intricacies of a subtler, grander environment then flood inside as if no windshield even exists. That’s when spiritual connections of varying nature start to take off for me.

[Karen]

Well, I tried to drink myself to death when I was young but it didn't work so now I guess, I'll hike myself to death. Seriously, there are all sorts of reasons I hike and the "reasons" change from day to day, sometimes from hour to hour. I once referred to my occupation as an "escape artist" and that's probably a big chunk of my motivation to hike. I just feel better when I'm out in the mountains than anywhere else -- on all levels -- physically, spiritually, emotionally. Sometimes I do hike to "escape" hassles of modern life or unpleasantness but it's a gift in disguise. These hikes (escaping) always give me more inner strength to deal with life as it really is (not as I'd like to be). Maybe it's the endomorphins. I also have a "need" to hike, a need to see trees, streams, mountains, flowers, snow and ice. I get cranky if I can't get out on a regular basis to see those things. Other times I hike just for the exercise and to keep the body moving (use it or lose it). I aspire to be one of those 90 year olds that still makes it up Mount Si and enjoys it. Other times I just like to get out and take photos -- not necessarily for a hike description but just to play. Yes, a sense of play. I get to play outside!! Yippee!! It's a "schools out" type of feeling that I've never lost. I get to play in the mountains. Sometimes I hike to socialize as I have a tendency toward becoming a hermit and I like to keep a foot in the door of the world and don't want to lose touch with all other humanity. And like an unhappy teenager I've never lost that desire to "run away" and go somewhere, like some character in "Desolation Angels". The other thing that occurs in the mountains, at least for me, is a spiritual sense I don't get anywhere else. I'm not a particurly spiritual person but when I'm outside (especially when backpacking) I feel like I'm walking through a Garden of Eden, I get the feeling that everything we need in life is out there, out in the wild, the water, the food, the beauty, the animals. I don't get that in the city. Not at all. My needs are met out there. Yet, conversely, after a while I'm ready to leave Eden and trudge back to the car and the hassles (and comforts) of home (dry clothes, shoes, warm bed, cats, candy). I also feel that I am better person when I'm out in the mountains as my feelings are closer to the surface. I laugh easier, I cry easier, I can get downright goofy and silly just from the joy at being outside. November is a tough month for me. I truly have to work hard to find things to like about November, even in the mountains. Yet even when the "pickings are slim" in November, I go nuts if I can't get out and go. Being outside in November is better than being inside. Period. Well, at least for short periods. Karen

[Trail Pair]

This is a topic K and I have discussed many times as we hike.....philosophically....physically....spiritually. We hike not for the exercise.....but for the beauty of nature. Therfore, the exercise is good for the body and the soul. We hike for the feeling of complete independance....and at the same time feel the interdependance of all things. We climb to attain a goal.....to feel how insignificant we are in the grand scheme of things....and yet feel powerful for attaining that goal. We hike to escape to a differnt reality than what we face each day in civilization. We hike to explore.....to see new scenery...and have new experiences. We hike for the photos! Gosh, this could go on for along time....I better allow someone else to interject.

[Trevor]

I love deviating from the complex world we have developed, which places a high emphasis on material wealth, and fleeing to the simplicity of nature, where I'm living minimally and feeling as alive as ever. The more time I have spent connecting myself with this nature, the more I feel the deep peace being manifested in generally non-peaceful situations, which allows people to see my authentic self, that which my creator intended me to be, not that which has been distorted by the external. The images I perceive in wilderness I do not lose, and it simply takes a mental resurfacing of these images to purge myself. Plus, there is that photography thing I do, which hiking tends to supplement. Great responses so far people.

[Molli]

hiking... its my anti-drug

[Yana]

greg wrote:

[Quark]

In reading the responses, many of the reasons people give are centered towards self - self-enrichment or self enjoyment. For instance, Karen discovers herself when outdoors in a way she can't seem to do in the city. We're all different when outdoors. It's a freedom from society norms, from the constraint of time...If that's what someone seeks, so be it. Afterall, you, yourself - are a part of Nature, so why not enjoy that part of Nature?

[greg]

[Malachai Constant]

Hinking is a good way to get the rust off my clamps

[Trevor]

People desiring nature for its therapy, doesn't necessarily have a self-centered end. Receiving that therapy implies that we will be in our proper state upon returning back to society, and being in our authentic state allows us to be more peaceful,focused, and observant upon dealing with others, which will allow us to more efficiently address their needs and enrich their lives through what nature has granted us.

[captain jack]