WANDERLUST: HOW HIKING IS GOOD FOR THE SOUL
FINDING BALANCE ABOVE THE CLOUDS
It was not long ago that hiking was sneered at and considered something only very old and very boring people would do. If someone between 20 and 40 would go alpine hiking on vacation peers surely would have rolled their eyes, thinking why though?
Today, a lot has changed. Functional outerwear brands are trending and an increasing number of young people flee the cities to follow trails and climb the mountains. Somewhen and somehow, hiking became cool. How can something you hated as a child turn into something you do voluntarily, and even love it? Is it only about the fresh air and the post-card-nature? From personal experience I can tell you, there is more to it.
In our busy and stressful lives, we feel the urge to turn away from materialistic possessions and seek inner balance, happiness, and a good life. We tend to go backwards, towards the analog, real life, simple things. Walking Is the most natural way to move for humans, and hiking means deceleration and slow movement. Unlike the fast pace of our times, it is native, natural.
As you rarely hike though a metropolis but head to mountains and woods, it comes with stunning views and nature, as soon as you set off. It’s so beautiful! Deep forests, small paths winding through pines and meadows, along a crystal clear lake, above the sky is so blue, and the sun is setting behind a mountain panorama, dramatic and almost unreal. All the flowers and plants lining your path, all the animals you will be seeing, grazing in the distance, a steinbock posing on the grate in the sunset, watching you carefully. And then those endless views.
Unless you go in a bigger group and choose the highest season, you and your companion(s) will most likely be alone and walk for hours without others crossing your path. This incredible silence, the fresh air! Being outside all day long is so good for your brain, lungs, your whole body. And each morning you head out again, no matter the weather. Sure, sun and blue skies are great, but hiking under thick clouds, in rain or through a storm is impressive and exhilarating. Tread carefully though, as thunderstorms in the mountains can be dangerous.
Hiking is rich in variety and full of surprises. Each day, the trail and region is different and even if you would do the same hike again, it would still surprise you. No hike is alike, each day brings something new and unknown. You checked the route, weather, cabins ahead of time, but still you never know what to expect. A true feeling of adventure.
Going on a hike means confronting the impressive and pure side of nature. Mountains or a thunderstorm can be dangerous and frightening, but even on a sunny day you might feel small and miniscule compared to this massiveness, and then suddenly, so are your problems. When you are hanging on a steel rope in a cliff or walking on a narrow path where both sides fall off into steep ravines, all that is your mind and all that matters is where to safely place your next step, and the one after that. Like this, it’s an exercise of mindfulness, of being in the here and now, of experiencing your own physical limits, and push but respect them.
Hiking is a form of meditation that stops your thoughts rotating – a precious and rare thing. In the beginning your mind is still running, thoughts and ideas that need to be contemplated. But after a while you suddenly realize they are gone, and all that’s left is silence, a clear head. It’s then that a new freedom of mind sets in. Walking and hiking fuels creativity, as the mind can only move forward if the body and legs do so, too, and while you climb a mountain, ideas and thoughts can pop up freely, without pressure.
Throughout a hiking tour you will practice and appreciate minimalism, simplicity, and the bare essentials. Before your trip you plan and pack your backpack, racks, boots. As you will be carrying it all day long you think about each garment or equipment twice and you choose practical and good things, the bare essentials. Cabin life, or: how good food can taste, and how little you care if there is only a sink with cold water, that you share your bedroom with 1-20 other hikers. There are cabins close to luxury, and those with only the bare minimum, it does not matter. After a long hike, a solid meal, you fall into a deep, good sleep, sometimes before the sun sets. The simple life. Ach each morning, you put on your boots, the same cloths, shoulder the backpack, and off you go. No decisions that need to be made as all is decided and planned already.
The physical and fitness aspect of hiking is not disputed. It’s exhausting, sweat pearls soon will be forming on the forehead, your legs heavy, your heartbeat hammering in your ears. Hiking is not going for a walk, it is a true physical challenge, especially if you choose alpine routes a certain condition and experience is required. But as it is exhausting, it is revitalizing, the fresh air, movement and happiness hormones flowing through your body after reaching a goal. Your batteries feel recharged.
Oh and yes, there are the small but rewarding breaks, the picnic on a mountaintop or in a green meadow, embracing the small things you brought. A bread with cheese or a chocolate nip never tasted so good as it did right there, believe me.
Combining all of above, hiking contains a unique mixture of feelings, experiences, and challenges for body, mind and soul. Reaching a mountaintop, you feel exhaustion, but also pride and excitement and freedom at the same time. It feels so good that once you go, you will be infected with a hiking virus, and will set off again, very soon.
