[Mtn Dog]

Here's a thought provoking and philosophical question for everyone. Let me help get us started: Solitude Working in the city pays the bills but being in absolute silence in the wilderness is peaceful, rejuvenating, and can really calm the nerves. Exercise Cross Country Skiing I hear is the best aerobic exercise but hiking with vertical gain must also be way up the list. What a great way to stay healthy and enjoy yourself! Scenic Vistas Cimbing up peaks gives you a view that most will never see. With a camera you can preserve beautiful views for places remembered years later. Family tradition My dad got us hiking as kids. Always enjoyed it since then and love to share the sport with my daughter now. Technohiking With a Suunto Altimeter wristwatch, Garmin GPS receiver and mapping software, a Nikon Coolpix 5700 Digital Camera, a Verizon Wireless Cell Phone, and my new Arc Teryx pack I can go almost anywhere and be totally in touch - now all I need is a Satellite phone! Friendship Some of my best friends and cousins all hike. I have golfing buddies, but hiking buddies are equally special if not more so! And you get to share great experiences together. I'm sure there are many more great reasons, let's hear 'em!

[polecatjoe]

I'm kind of the "I've always done it!" sort of hiker- I don't know how I would cope without hiking. As soon as I could walk my older siblings drug me all over the hills in all kinds of weather, and it just comes naturally to me now. About the only thing on your list that doesn't fit me is "Technohiker", I couldn't give a rat's about most hiking technology.

[Stefan]

To get to a mountain, so I can climb it!

[Karen]

My reasons for hiking have changed over the years. Initially it was to meet like-minded people that enjoyed being outdoors and I joined the Mountaineers because I didn't have a car. They car pool and that was the hook for me -- not only to drive and get a car so I could get to the mountains on my own but because I DID meet a lot of good people. Back in the 1980s a big reason I hiked was the exercise -- though I got a late start hiking, I was very strong in my mid-40s and I enjoyed pushing myself to the limit. I had the reputation in the Mountaineers then as "not being all that fast, but relentless". Also did a lot of backpacking (7-8 day outings) and scrambling -- not a lot of climbing. In the 1990s my values changed -- still liked to hike with friends but the explorer gene kicked in and I began to hike as many as abandoned trails as I could find. And, of course, as I aged my pace slowed but that had it's gifts too -- I experienced all that great scenery I had hurtled through before. In the 2000 years, imy reasons are still changing. At times I lstill ike to push myself to the limits, I still like to go off-trail and explore, I prefer hiking alone most of the time but I also enjoy "winter walks" with good company and am finally learning to tell the difference between an eagle and a robin, after years of not paying much attention to what was around me. In short, I don't hike TO destinations now as much as I hike THROUGH -- that's one of the many gifts of being a not-so-young hiker. It's a cliche but now the journey truly has become the destination. My advice to hikers: do as much as you can while you can. I did and I'm glad I did. Today, I'm grateful I can still hike and scramble like I did 25 years ago, just a tad slower but the experience is much richer than it was then. Gear? I'm not much into gear. Never was. I often hike without maps and have never had a GPS but always seem to know pretty much where I am (exception: Fuller Mountain). Scenery? Ridge running is the best of all hiking worlds but I can hike what some would consider a plug-ugly trail and find something beautiful along the way. An old climber from the Olympia branch of the Mountaineers used to describe tree-line as the "fun-line" and the "fun-line" is my favorite type of scenery -- where the rambling and scrambling and ridge-runs begin. I hike for so many reasons I can't count them. What a great thread, I'm looking forward to reading more responses. Sorry I took so many words to say so little. Karen

[Newman]

that is a good question. i guess i have always hiked, although always isn't a long time, as i am still pretty young. one of the main reasons for me is a sense of accomplishment. i like reaching a summit, or completing a long one-way trek. it is being able to say "i did this" or "oh yeah, i climbed that" that keeps me going. to many people, that is going to sound like i want to put notches in my belt and brag about things i have done. but actually, it isn't that way at all. it is all for me. i often look back at old pictures all by myself and feel that sense of accomplishment all over again. i live for the feeling i have after a long week on the trail, or a long slog up a mountain to reach its summit. also, there are always new things to do, and more challenges to overcome. there is always something new just around the corner. good times!

[hikerjo]

What would I do if I didn't hike?

[Backpacker Joe]

Cause. TB

[phillyjon]

DE TREES! DE TREES! I came out here 10 years ago when I was 47. In PA. I was into enviornmentalism and gave a few bucks now and then to save old-growth, although I had little knowledge and didn't really know where it was at-- just, out west somewhere. After about a year here I decided to go out to the woods..and BLAMO! Now I can't get enough of it. I am obsessed with the old-growth wilderness. I feel so lucky. I study every tree and try to figure out species, height, age, age of forest, everything. I like to do peaks, too. ALLOT! But I don't do peaks unless there's old-growth on the way. Contrary to most people, it always takes me MUCH longer to go down then going up, and I'm slow going up. That's because I miss the forest on the way up because I'm hyper-ventilating. But on the way down, I'm in heaven. It's fascinating.

[Mtn Dog]

PolecatJoe: I've heard quite a bit in other forums about some who have no desire to make use of new technology and others who love it. I can also add this to my list: Orienteering Mapping routes and deciding ways to tackle trails and talus fields is always fun. I spend hours looking at Green Trail maps deciding on my next hike. Once on the trail, seeing the horizons and naming the distant peaks is always fun. I've always enjoyed cartography and for a long time I used my own skills to find my way and figure out which elevation I was at (and which way was North). I haven't hiked with my new receiver yet and I'm a little worried it might take all the fun out of it; or it may just be too much trouble to keep looking at while hiking. Guess I'll find out soon enough.

[Sore Feet]

[Mtn Dog]

[phillyjon]

I always bring a Washington State Road map and a magnifying glass when I do peaks. Lots of the major peaks are on the map to measure their distance from you. Back in Philly we'd be lucky to see 1 mile in summer. Here I've seen mountains from 130 miles! Fascinating. Hey man, thanks for doing this thread. I needed this.

[polarbear]

The scenery and sense of exploration and adventure. There something magical about being able to hike 4 miles into mountains and finding a lake there (the peaks are obvious, of course ). The less gear I have to carry the better. If I could snap my fingers and have a hot meal appear in front of me, then that is what I'd do.

[Slugman]

Nice posts and nice thread, Mtn Dog. You have used up all the good reasons, so I will just agree with you and leave it at that.

[Vidalia]

I just have to. Soon as I get out I am thinking of the next hike. A change in the weather, a news story about snow, changing leaf color, coming across some piece of hiking gear, looking at trees, reading Outside or Backpacking, looking at a calendar, remembering a previous hike, hell, just waking up! All of this makes me want to get outside and saunter in the woods.