Thru Hiking Quotes & Sayings

In general, when you travel, you get into a different reality and are able to more accurately reflect on your ordinary life. Hiking does that for me. — John Mackey

I love going out of my way, beyond what I know, and finding my way back a few extra miles, by another trail, with a compass that argues with the map ... nights alone in motels in remote western towns where I know no one and no one I know knows where I am, nights with strange paintings and floral spreads and cable television that furnish a reprieve from my own biography, when in Benjamin's terms, I have lost myself though I know where I am. Moments when I say to myself as feet or car clear a crest or round a bend, I have never seen this place before. Times when some architectural detail on vista that has escaped me these many years says to me that I never did know where I was, even when I was home. — Rebecca Solnit

Most of Ludwig's excesses involved pursuits popular among Bavarians, who shared his love for hiking, drinking, and over the top decorating — Susan Barnett Braun

But the truth is, I want to be some woman's work boots, not her high heels."
"Work boots?" What was sexy about that? And did women have work boots?
"Yeah. You know, the boots she pulls out when she wants to get down and dirty, hiking or gardening or boating or painting the kitchen. The ones she relies on and trusts and lives her life hard and good and on her terms in. Her favorites. — Erin McCarthy

I'm definitely an outdoorsy guy. I like hiking, outdoor workouts with body weight. But when it comes to getting it done, I can just get in the gym and pound it out. — Derek Theler

Jesus was a hiker. The wilderness was His retreat. — Toni Sorenson

A significant fraction of thru-hikers reach Katahdin, then turn around and start back to Georgia. They just can't stop walking, which kind of makes you wonder. — Bill Bryson

Occasionally, he would exclaim over a view or regard with admiration some passing marvel of nature, but mostly to him hiking was a tiring, dirty, pointless slog between distantly spaced comfort zones. — Bill Bryson

Gumption is the most important thing for a thru-hiker to maintain. Compare rounds of golf, one played while keeping score and one in which you hit a mulligan every time you are unhappy with a shot. In the latter case, being on the golf course loses significance. Rounds that are memorable are the ones that you make count. In a broader context, all rounds of golf are of no consequence, whether score is kept or not. But you are the center of your own universe. You are free to create meaning for yourself. When you attempt to capture the highlights without burdening yourself with the tedium, the highlights lose the foundation that elevates them to the status of "highlight." Analogies abound because a focused attitude defines the quality of all that we do. In playing a game, dieting, or hiking the AT, you benefit — David Miller

Mothers are programmed to teach the fit. They are unequipped to listen to pleas, to alter their patterns. Mothers know how to nurse and nurture those who they have hope for - they coo over babies with infections they can help heal, they give advice for things they know, they protect from the dangers they know how to fear. But once their baby becomes so hurt the mother doesn't know how to heal her, she neglects because she doesn't know better. The tricks she knows don't work, she fears, and, eventually, when she is so lost she feels hopeless, she abandons. — Aspen Matis

Hiking in undiscovered places is a lot of fun. — Karolina Kurkova

It's very productive scientifically; I often get some very good ideas for my research while hiking. — Reinhard Selten

Do you know how fast you are walking? ... To get a close estimate, count the number of steps you take in a minute and divide by 30 ... — Albina Fabiani

When I was hitch-hiking, people had to follow me, 'cause I didn't stay long. — Brownie McGhee

Without even thinking about it, I sent Callum an image of a dog hiking his leg at a fire hydrant. And then one of a rebel flag from the Revolutionary War.
Callum didn't respond in my head, but I knew he'd gotten the message, because he met me at the front door, and the first thing he said, with a single arch of his eyebrow, was, "Don't tread on you?"
"More like 'don't metaphorically pee on my brainwaves,' but it's the same sentiment, really."
"Vulgarity does not become you, Bryn."
"Are you going to lecture, or are we going to run?"
He sighed, but I didn't need a bond with the pack to see that he was thinking that I had always, always been a difficult child. And then, just in case that point wasn't clear, he verbalized it. "You have always, always been a difficult child."
I smiled sweetly. "I try. — Jennifer Lynn Barnes

The hiking boots the outdoor adventure magazine sent me to buy - large, ungainly potato like things that I have been trying to break in for the past four days - cut into my feet and draw blood as if the were lined with cheese graters. I have come to hate these Timberlands with a fervor I usually reserve for people. Just think, the shoes I wouldn't be caught dead in might actually turn out to be the shoes I am caught dead in. — David Rakoff

Aside from marrying my husband and having my children, hiking the PCT was the best thing I ever did. The hike very literally forced me to put one foot in front of the other at a time when emotionally I didn't think I could do that. — Cheryl Strayed

I'm really an outdoorsy girl. People think I can't go anywhere without getting all primped up, but I love to go camping, and I'm totally fine with not doing my hair or makeup, not taking a shower and just hiking. — Vanessa Hudgens

'Ghost Canoe' takes place on the storm-tossed tip of Washington's Olympic Peninsula, where I spent a lot of time hiking and exploring. — Will Hobbs

My most memorable hikes can be classified as 'Shortcuts that Backfired'. — Edward Abbey

America's fine, nice, nice hiking near L.A. But I am European. I love London and Paris. Friends and intellect, big thought, why not? — Olga Kurylenko

I came to Ireland 20 years ago as a student, hitch-hiking round for a week and staying in Dublin. — Greta Scacchi

How could I explain the sort of twisted fantasies I'd had to play out to Frank? Most of them I didn't even understand myself. Like being drenched in maple syrup and having acorns thrown at me by a guy wearing nothing but hiking boots. — Nicole Castle

Of all the paths you take in life,
make sure a few of them are dirt. — John Muir

Many climbers become writers because of the misconceptions about climbing. — Jonathan Waterman

I'm a huge camper, and love hiking and mountain biking. — Anna Torv

The other contained a set of rugged clothes, hiking boots, and a smaller backpack with many pouches and zippers. — Henry Gene Foster

I am so lazy. I really don't have a regimen. When I was younger I used to be into cardio and taebo and step-orobics and hiking. Lately, I haven't done anything at all. I'd like to get into yoga, but I've been really bad. — Bianca Lawson

I focus on having a feminine body, a dancer's body. I do resistance and dance and cardio. I like hiking, swimming, being active. It clears your mind and it's a good way to decompress. — Ashley Greene

I'm addicted to exercise. I love going to the gym, but my absolute favorite is hiking in L.A., particularly Runyon Canyon. It's become my mental and physical salvation. — Jonathan Keltz

Midwest kids got to summer camp. There is something very special about being away from your parents for the first time, sleeping under the stars, hiking and canoeing. — Jami Gertz

Now shall I walk or shall I ride? 'Ride,' Pleasure said; 'Walk,' Joy replied. — W.H. Davies

Every twenty minutes on the Appalachian Trail, Katz and I walked farther than the average American walks in a week. For 93 percent of all trips outside the home, for whatever distance or whatever purpose, Americans now get in a car. On average, the total walking of an American these days - that's walking of all types: from car to office, from office to car, around the supermarket and shopping malls - adds up to 1.4 miles a week ... That's ridiculous. — Bill Bryson

In fact, because I liked him so badly, I needed to continue on my course. I was finally becoming the woman I wanted to be, and she was whom I needed to show Dash - and myself. — Aspen Matis