Hiking: It’s What We Were Made For

This is a blog series full of good ideas, not the least of which is the reminder that the ancient, simple act of taking a hike is a wonderful way to readjust one’s gaze in the world away from one’s naval, and instead to look outward, beyond the microscopic universe of the self. Paradoxically, of course, a good hike — or ski tour or backpacking trip — is one of the most indulgent things you can do for yourself, yielding results to your physical and emotional health that simply cannot be gotten in any other way.

In taking care of yourself — in treating yourself to a hike — no matter what the condition of the day’s weather, nor your physical state afterward, you invariably emerge better able to take care of yourself, your place in the world, and those around you. This, in particular, is one of the greatest treasures and legacies of our public lands — not the scant and puny last few board feet of timber that can be liquidated, nor the ore dug and clawed out from beneath the public’s strongbox — but, far more valuable, the thing, the land itself, intact and giving us solace in troubled times. It’s free, this hiking about on public land, and it’s healthy and legal.

It’s what we were made for.