Hiking - Much More Than Just Exercise

Many people think that hiking is just another form of exercise. While this is technically true, hiking is also much more. The first thing that makes hiking more than just exercise is the fact that hiking takes place in nature. There is something very powerful about nature and being in nature. I'm one of those people who believe that if more people spent more time in nature, we would have many fewer problems in this world. Many of our greatest thinkers believed in the power of nature as well. Albert Einstein said of nature, "Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better."

Hiking affords a person the opportunity to be in nature, which in and of itself makes it much more than just exercise. Hiking can be done in any outdoor setting, but I personally love hiking in mountains. Hiking to the top of a mountain is incredibly rewarding. Not only because you hiked to the top, but once there you are usually rewarded with a view that isn't possible anywhere else. Even from an airplane, views are different that from standing on top of a mountain that you just climbed. This seems to be one of those laws of nature that can't be fooled with. The bottom line is that the view is never as good as it is when you hike to the top of the mountain.

Not only does hiking involve you receiving unequalled access to views of nature, it also affords you incredible emotional feeling. For me, there is no drug that you can take (and I've tried a lot of them) that will give you the incredible feeling of accomplishment that finishing a good hike gives you. And this feeling costs nothing. Nothing, other than your time and effort. What could be a better deal than that?

So the next time that you get the opportunity, go for a hike. Spend some time hiking in nature and let her help you with anything that you may need. I think William Blake put it beautifully, when he said, "The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way. Some see nature all ridicule and deformity... and some scarce see nature at all. But to the eyes of the man of imagination, nature is imagination itself." Amen.