The Thrill of Hiking
Hiking, to many, is a serene and peaceful sport that can be done with relative ease and on a very tight budget. All that is needed is a good pair of shoes and maybe a walking stick. This instantly makes it very accessible to a wide range of people, no matter their age or fitness levels. There is a strong sense of adventure to this sport as well; when it comes to tackling the wild outdoors and getting the better of the forest or mountain, it doesn’t get better than cutting a new path in a hostile terrain.
Hiking can be defined as follows: “Hiking is merely walking on a foot path, whether on a neighbourhood trail that runs along the river or a more adventurous trail to a mountain ridge”.A hiking adventure can be one of the most enjoyable and exciting things to experience on foot. The feeling of connecting with nature and walking to find a path in a forest or mountain evokes a sense of oneness with the world at large. Hiking is also a great tourist attraction in some of the world’s remotest places like the rainforests of the Amazon or the Incan ruins in South America. Hiking along these paths speaks to us about history and the ancient world as well.
Before they had the luxury of planes, cars, and other vehicles, people would travel everywhere on foot. Travelling on foot was dangerous and would take a very long time, but it helped keep people agile and in good health.
“Following in the literal footsteps of tribes, nomads, and cow paths; literally, hiking and trekking is one of the most popular athletic activities on the planet,”.There is something special about moving along the same path that someone carved out of the forest hundreds of years ago. It gives one a sense of wonder and awe and is a very humbling feeling to know that someone has done this perhaps even before we were born.
Hiking, although it is a great means for exercise and an excellent recreational activity, seems to be a little bit boring for some tastes.
How would one go about spicing up the sport of hiking or trekking? Maybe a race might do the trick; a race along a set path through a popular or even an uncharted hiking trail. Consider the following scenario: two teams could be made of 5 hikers, and they could be given a rough map and no other navigational equipment. They would then have to reach a designated finish point following any path they want to cut across the forest. Of course, safety teams would be deployed at certain intervals and would be monitoring the teams to make sure nothing untoward happens to them. It would be an ultimate test of survival in some of the harshest terrains on the planet. It would make sense that adventure seekers from all over the world would descend upon the idea and run to compete in the adventure.
There is something similar to this presented concept, called ‘Ultrarunning’ or ‘Ultramarathons’, which are basically running for long distances. What it entails can be summed up in this statement: “The long distance run does something to ones state of mind that brings one more fully into the moment and that is where life is, the here and now,”. This is not exactly what an extreme hike would be; it would combine running through a forest or jungle but with a sense of adventure in the participants having to find out exactly where they are going. The first team to make it to the finish line in the quickest time wins.
Even without a crazy invention like extreme-hiking, hiking is still a very popular and enjoyable sport that many people all around the world take part in. As people keep discovering more remote places to hike through, the sport will just get more popular.
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