Hiking Is A No-Skill Activity, Anyone Can Do It!
One of the great things about hiking—besides it being so incredibly beneficial to both physical and mental well-being—is that it is so easy that just about anyone can do it! Many outdoor activities require not only expensive equipment, but also skill. Not hiking though. We are all, by nature, perfectly ready to get out there on the trail and just walk. We’re even good at it without needing any experience.
Want to do mountain biking? Looks fun, and I’m sure it’s a great thrill, but (even if you get an expensive bike) do you have the skills to just go out and do it? Nope. Rock climbing or bouldering? For sure cool and exciting; but can you just show up and do it? Kayaking (well, pretty easy), golf, skiing or snowboarding, wind surfing, duck hunting, frisbee golf, softball… you get the idea.
But with hiking, you just have to show up at the trailhead and start walking! (And if you are not keen on navigation I know a good guide you can hire!).
You would think that walking along narrow, winding trails cutting through thick woods with rocks and roots underfoot would be very treacherous, and that you would slip fall often. And yet it’s quite the opposite! Your natural poise kicks in when on rocky, uneven trails. The eyes naturally look down and ahead to the next few steps, and you just walk ahead with relative ease. I would speculate that it’s an evolutionary thing. It’s the “animal brain” at work without much mental effort or strain at all. Indeed you can have in-depth conversations while hiking on such irregular terrain. In fact I think hiking on uneven terrain actually focuses the mind for thought and conversation—something about how part of unconscious mind being focused and zoned-in (and in motion) somehow allows the conscious, thinking mind to really run free. Who knows… but it’s real. You are GOOD AT HIKING BY NATURE!
Hiking is trending for all the health and wellness benefits, for getting to experience the profound beauty of nature, for fun and excitement, and for exploring new places on our big beautiful earth! But one of the best things about it is that you can experience all these benefits easily and without having done any hiking before. Don’t worry about it, just get out there!
The fine print: The only thing I would add to the conclusions of this entry is that you do need to be conscious of fitness level when going on a hike, particularly when it comes to uphill hiking (and, to a lesser extent, distance). Anyone can hike on uneven, rocky or rooted terrain if it’s more or less flat for a certain distance (beginners should start with a short hikes of an hour or so, and go from there). But when talking about uphill trails you have to be careful not to overdo it. And what comes up must go down; lots of hikers tell me they are worried about falling. I understand this, and I always say that you should be open to pushing your comfort level—but just a bit. It’s natural to be scared of falling, especially when going downhill on rocks. But, as the point of this post suggests, you have a lot more skill than you think. The brain knows what to do. Falling is pretty rare, and injury from falling is incredibly rare. DON’T BE AFRAID OF FALLING, just get out there hiking!
Until next time…
-TDG