I loved growing up with the freedom that I did. At that point in my life, we did not call it hiking. We called it going on an adventure or exploring. My friends and I would head out into the woods just navigating by the sun and have a blast. We would build forts or wade in the stream for crawdads. Sometimes I would take my cane pole and we would fish off the bridge for sunfish. We probably covered five miles a day easy, and we could explore anywhere our feet could take us. We were booted out of the house after breakfast and were not allowed back until dark unless we came back for lunch.
I remember flying out to visit a friend in Arizona when I was about ten years old. While I was out there we went camping in a mountainous area of the desert. We were headed out the door and asked my friend’s parents for a climbing rope. We wanted to be sure we could scale any nasty rocks we came across. Of course, we had no idea how to use climbing rope and they said no. So we went anyways. We picked the highest peak we could see and set out to reach the top. After climbing up some sheer rock faces and working around some dangerous drop-offs, we made it to the top. This was pretty normal for my childhood. His parents were not amused.
As an adult, my life is much busier. My time is almost entirely spent working or playing with my son. If we want to go on a hike, it usually involves some planning. It is easy to find more reasons to spend my time on other things versus going for a hike. However, it is also easy to argue that regular hiking is more important for my health and well-being now than it was when I was a kid.
When we were children we just loved nature and loved experiencing all that we could. Every day was an adventure. There was nothing better than the sun on our shoulders and the breeze at our backs. We usually came home with grass stains and dirt from head to toe. The fresh air and exercise made us feel alive. I cannot reminisce about any of these days spent in the woods without smiling. In this article, we will discuss why hiking should be a regular part of your weekly routine as an adult.
Love of Nature
From a very young age, it was drilled into me that the wilderness was god’s gift for us to enjoy and respect. My father is one of those guys that can go hunting every day for a week, see nothing, and still be completely happy to be out in nature. Just being out in the wild and absorbing my surroundings does something for my soul. I have a background in photography and found myself drawn to landscape photos. My professor was actually an apprentice of Ansel Adams, so there were lots of black and white deserts, mountains, and rivers.
While everyone’s beliefs are different, I think it is easy to see that the wild parts of our planet are a precious gift in one way or another. If nothing else, it is easy to acknowledge the power of the wilderness. One cannot deny how nature will constantly do its thing despite the fact that people think they run things. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t step back for a minute when they hike up on a cascading waterfall or arrive at a rocky overlook.
Hiking teaches and reinforces a respect and appreciation for the plant life around us. Despite the fact that I typically hike in similar forests each time, I constantly see new plants that I had not seen before. As the seasons change, my hikes are greeted with colorful wildflowers, weird little mushrooms, and mossy logs. I love seeing the greens in the spring and summer, and the reds and oranges of fall. I even enjoy hiking in the winter and seeing everything covered in snow and ice. It is a different kind of beauty.
Hiking also exposes us to wildlife that we would not otherwise see. On hikes around here we always see snakes, lizards, birds, and squirrels. It is pretty normal to see deer and wild turkeys around dawn and dusk. If you go on a night hike, you might run across black bears, raccoons, or wild boars. When you get to see these beautiful creatures in their natural environment, it is different from seeing them on TV or in a zoo. They are graceful and free as they work perfectly with the forest. Because I regularly hike in the wild, my respect for wildlife has carried with me and will for the rest of my life.
Cardiac Health
Many of the benefits of hiking are related to health, and heart health is one of the big ones. Heart disease is the primary cause of death in the US. Hiking does a great job of decreasing bad cholesterol, reducing hypertension, improving circulation, and reducing the risk or progression of diabetes. We will break down some of these in more detail, but they all contribute to your cardiac health.
Your best exercise options for heart health are typically medium to high-intensity aerobic exercises that put minimal strain on your joints. A great example is hiking hills with a pack. If you compare to running on a treadmill, hiking will reduce your stress and anxiety more. Hiking also provides a safer form of exercise as you risk injuries with running. In addition to potential muscle injuries from running, you can experience all kinds of long term joint damage.
Just the Basics
Whether hiking for a few hours or for several days, it forces you to only bring items that you absolutely need to complete your hike. It forces you to evaluate your pack and keep it light so you can cover more ground with fewer breaks. If you bring too much gear, your pack will weigh you down and it will not be nearly as enjoyable.
Let’s look at a couple of other activities and how they compare. While I love camping and try to get out there as often as possible, we end up bringing way too much gear. When I know we will only need to move it from the car to the campsite, I don’t keep it simple in any way. This often leads to the camping trip becoming stressful from dealing with all the gear.
On the other hand, let’s compare running on a treadmill. You really don’t need to bring anything except for a water bottle and maybe a towel. You know you will be back on your comfy couch in an hour, so there is no thinking about gear at all. While this can reduce stress for some people, it makes the experience less meaningful than a hike. For me, I can think back and appreciate almost every hike I have been on because of the planning and packing required. I cannot tell you about a single run on a treadmill I ever really enjoyed. In this way, wilderness hiking is more challenging than running.
When I really feel like a challenge, I sometimes hike with just a couple of items. It is not uncommon for me to head out for a hike with just the items in my EDC (everyday carry) kit. You will move so much faster with minimal gear but be sure you have the skills to survive with the bare minimum. If done right, you can safely test your skills with navigation, shelter building, fire starting, foraging, water purification, any many other survival skills.
Diabetes, Obesity, and Hypertension
As mentioned above, there are lots of different health benefits to hiking in the wilderness. About one out of every three Americans currently has hypertension including myself, my father, and most of the men I know. There are lots of different things you can do to reduce hypertension, and regular aerobic exercise is one of them. The safe and steady exercise you get from hikes in the wild can drop your blood pressure by ten points, and dropping some pounds can lower your blood pressure by 20 points or more if maintained.
Just as it does with hypertension, hiking can prevent and reduce the progression of diabetes. People that already have type one diabetes can reduce their insulin requirements by hiking regularly. People with type two diabetes can reduce the medication needed and can eventually eliminate the need entirely.
Overweight Americans are highly likely to have any or all of the conditions mentioned. The problem is that being overweight makes regular exercise more difficult. Most obese people cannot run simply because their hip, knee, and ankle joints cannot take the abuse. Being overweight also makes stationary bikes painful. However, hiking in nature can get your heart pumping without the pain you get with these other exercises. If you burn calories with a low-impact exercise you can lose weight and reduce the risk of these medical conditions.
When you take the time to calculate the calories you burn as you hike, it can give you added motivation to stick with it. Hiking in the wild typically involves some hills and rough terrain, so two to three miles per hour is a good pace to shoot for. You can track your pace using your phone to track distance divided by the time elapsed. If you are pacing a 24-minute mile, you are right there. This pace will allow the average hiker to burn at least 250 calories per hour. The more you currently weigh, the more calories you will burn per hour. When you hike for at least 20 minutes a day three days a week combined with a healthy diet, you can drastically improve your health.
Mental Health
Dealing with the stress and anxiety of daily life is one of the top reasons why I hike. Daily life for adults is a stress filled world. From sun up to sun down, we worry about finances, relationships, work, health, and anything else we can think of. This stress causes the body to go into fight or flight mode and it releases adrenaline. For primitive man, this adrenaline was designed to help them outrun a predator or fight off an attacker. It was not intended for modern man, but the adrenaline builds up all the same.
The adrenaline acts as a toxin that causes the feeling of stress to continue long after the situation is over. It even causes stress when you think about things that have not happened yet. This stress causes your muscles to tense, your joints to ache, and your head to pound. If this stress continues, it can contribute to all kinds of serious medical issues. Having hypertension myself, I know that stress increases my blood pressure. It can cause people to overeat contributing to obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.
Now let’s consider how hiking in the wilderness can help your mental health. Any exercise releases endorphins that counteract stress and make you feel better. Exercise also helps you flush out toxins, boost your metabolism, and increase the oxygen in your blood. However, hiking provides more than just exercise. The ultraviolet light produces vitamins in your skin that you would not get otherwise. Fresh air helps increase oxygen levels. All of this can also help you sleep better at night, so you will feel more rested the following day. I also suffer from insomnia, and hiking always helps me sleep better.
Hiking in the woods will also help you clear your mind. As you hike, you must focus your mind on the sounds and sights of the forest. You must pay attention to every step so you don’t slip and fall. You hear every bird song, smell the dampness of the forest floor, and take in all of the colors around you. This kind of focus prevents most people from worrying about the rest of their lives. If I take a day off and stay home, I will still worry about work hundreds of times over the course of the day. On the other hand, I have completed long-distance hikes on which I did not think about work once in several days. It was a small miracle. No matter what the science is behind it, hiking in the wilderness always makes me feel better.
Competition
I have always enjoyed sports, and competition of any kind is always welcome. While I do not suggest racing each other up and down the rocky trails we hike, you can still have some fun with it. Most of the hikers that join me are down to earn some bragging rights. If you throw a challenge at them, they will likely take it.
When we hike in bigger groups, we can safely compete to hit the finish line without risking the safety of anyone. Sometimes we break off into two groups taking two different paths to the same location to break camp. The first group to get to the campsite and start a fire gets to watch the other team do the cooking or the cleaning. We have all day to safely compete without tripping over the other team. It also brings survival skills like fire-starting and land navigation into the challenge. We sometimes bring two-way radios so we can talk trash while we hike. My son loves that part. I have also done wilderness skills challenges with adults, and scavenger hunts with kids.
Photography
As I mentioned above, I was a photography major in college. I have always enjoyed working with black and white film in my Pentax 35mm camera. However, this is not always practical for longer hikes. If I am just going out for an hour or two, I can lug all of my old camera gear with me. For longer hikes I use a smaller digital camera or my phone.
The great part about hiking is that you often will see things you have never seen before. I love taking close up shots of flowers, mushrooms, and insects. When I can catch other wildlife, I try to frame those shots so it looks like you are right there. There are often beautiful overlooks on the trails I hike, and these views will change as the seasons change. I still have photos I took on hikes as a teenager, and keep them as part of my portfolio.
Bone and Joint Issues
As I have gotten older, I have started to feel my age. My joints in particular have taken lots of abuse, and they tend to get inflamed easily. Many older folks also have issues with bone density. Brittle, thin bones caused by Osteoporosis can break if not addressed. Bone density issues can be reduced or eliminated by hiking on a regular basis and adjusting your diet. Your bones will build up calcium to maintain their thickness. Recent studies have shown that hiking three or more times per week can give you a six percent increase in bone density over the course of just nine months.
Joint issues work a little differently. Any type of stress on your joints can cause inflammation. If you have had serious joint injuries in the past, they can hang with you for the rest of your life. I tore my rotator cuff in my left shoulder almost 10 years ago, and it still bothers me almost every day. You need to exercise regularly to make your joints stronger and more flexible. However, you also need to exercise in a way that does not cause further stress. Hiking is a great example of an exercise that accomplishes this.
Training
Many athletes like to use wilderness hiking as part of their training regimen. Whether you are a college athlete looking for a little edge or you are just training to run a charity 5k with your friends, hiking can help. These days athletes have scientists studying how to get maximum performance out of their bodies. It has been proven that your muscles will get used to a specific exercise routine and may stop showing progress. Exercise plateaus like this are frustrating, and a unique exercise like wilderness hiking can snap you out of your rut.
Physically, hiking on steep inclines with a weighted pack gives you a different kind of resistance and motion than you will get with any other exercise. It also forces you to focus on your pace, your strides, your breathing, and your foot placement. You will deal with slippery slopes covered in wet leaves and loose rocks. This can help you watch your footing on a wet football field or a slick basketball court. If you can transfer that focus to other physical activities like sports or running, you will always perform at a higher level. Training on slippery surfaces will strengthen the muscles around your feet, ankles, and legs so you are more stable overall. Many of my friends use wilderness hiking to prepare for marathons. I use it to prepare for my wilderness survival challenges.
Perspective
One thing I never expected when I started hiking in the wilderness was the perspective it would give me in my life. When I spend several days scratching and sweating my way through the woods sleeping on the ground and drinking from streams, it reminds me of how comfortable my couch is. When I feel like I cannot take another step as the sun sucks the moisture out of my body, it makes me think of how much I enjoy air conditioning and a cold beer. When I hike alone as I often do, I do end up missing the time I spend with my son and my wife.
However, when I get back to the grind of everyday life I have a different kind of perspective. When I stare at a computer screen all day, I miss the colors, smells, and sounds of the forest. When I sit under fluorescent lights, I look out the window and miss the sun on my neck and the breeze on my skin. When life gets noisy and chaotic, I appreciate the quiet serenity I find in nature. Hiking in the wild improves my perspective on most aspects of life.
While you might have always known that hiking made you feel good, perhaps you did not know why. The science behind it is overwhelming. Regular hiking in the wilderness improves your physical health and mental health in several ways. The process of regularly hiking in nature gives you the opportunity for a more fulfilling life. If you take the time to get out on a trail and get some hiking done every week, others will notice and may be persuaded to start hiking as well. If you engrain wilderness hiking in your life so deeply that it becomes a needed part of your week, you will see how much better your life can be.