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Hiking is an outdoor activity
Outdoor activity

Outdoor activities usually mean Action done in nature away from civilization, such as hill walking, trekking, canoeing, running, kayaking, rafting, climbing, caving, and arguably broader groups such as Water sport s and Winter sport....
 which consists of walking
Walking

Walking is the main form of animal locomotion on Earth, distinguished from running and crawling . When carried out in shallow waters, it is usually described as wading and when performed over a steeply rising object or an obstacle it becomes scrambling or climbing....
 in natural environments, often on hiking trails
Trail

A trail is a path or road used for walking, cycling, cross-country skiing, or other activities. Some trails are off-limits to everyone other than hikers, and a few trails allow motorized vehicles....
. It is such a popular activity that there are numerous hiking organizations worldwide. The word hiking is understood in all English-speaking countries
List of countries where English is an official language

The following is a list of sovereign states and Territory where English language is an official language. Several of these nations, like India, Ireland, New Zealand, Canada and the Philippines, use English as an official language but not the sole official language ....
, a but there are differences in usage.

In some places, off-trail hiking is called cross-country hiking, bushwhacking, or bushbashing. In the United Kingdom
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
, hiking is a slightly old-fashioned word, with a flavor more of heartiness and exercise than of enjoying the outdoors; the activity described here would be called hillwalking
Hillwalking

In United Kingdom, the term hillwalking or fellwalking is normally used to describe the recreational practice of walking in hilly or mountainous terrain, generally with the intention of visiting the summit of hills and mountains....
 or simply walking.






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Hiking is an outdoor activity
Outdoor activity

Outdoor activities usually mean Action done in nature away from civilization, such as hill walking, trekking, canoeing, running, kayaking, rafting, climbing, caving, and arguably broader groups such as Water sport s and Winter sport....
 which consists of walking
Walking

Walking is the main form of animal locomotion on Earth, distinguished from running and crawling . When carried out in shallow waters, it is usually described as wading and when performed over a steeply rising object or an obstacle it becomes scrambling or climbing....
 in natural environments, often on hiking trails
Trail

A trail is a path or road used for walking, cycling, cross-country skiing, or other activities. Some trails are off-limits to everyone other than hikers, and a few trails allow motorized vehicles....
. It is such a popular activity that there are numerous hiking organizations worldwide. The word hiking is understood in all English-speaking countries
List of countries where English is an official language

The following is a list of sovereign states and Territory where English language is an official language. Several of these nations, like India, Ireland, New Zealand, Canada and the Philippines, use English as an official language but not the sole official language ....
, a but there are differences in usage.

In some places, off-trail hiking is called cross-country hiking, bushwhacking, or bushbashing. In the United Kingdom
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
, hiking is a slightly old-fashioned word, with a flavor more of heartiness and exercise than of enjoying the outdoors; the activity described here would be called hillwalking
Hillwalking

In United Kingdom, the term hillwalking or fellwalking is normally used to describe the recreational practice of walking in hilly or mountainous terrain, generally with the intention of visiting the summit of hills and mountains....
 or simply walking. In the United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
, hiking refers to cross-country walking of a longer duration than a simple walk and usually over terrain where hiking boots are required. A day hike refers to a hike that can be completed in a single day, often applied to mountain hikes to a lake or summit, but not requiring an overnight camp, in which case the term backpacking
Backpacking (wilderness)

Backpacking combines hiking and Camping in a single trip. A backpacker hikes into the backcountry to spend one or more nights there, and carries supplies and equipment to satisfy sleeping and eating needs....
 is used. Bushwhacking specifically refers to difficult walking through dense forest, undergrowth, or bushes, where forward progress requires pushing vegetation aside. In extreme cases of bushwhacking where the vegetation is so dense that human passage is impeded, a machete
Machete

The machete is a large Cleaver -like cutting tool. The blade is typically long and usually under thick. In the English language, an equivalent term is matchet, though the name 'machete' is more commonly known....
 is used to clear a pathway. Australia
Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the Australia of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and numerous list of islands of Australia in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans....
ns use the term bushwalking for both on- and off-trail hiking. New Zealand
New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous Islands of New Zealand, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands....
ers use tramping
Tramping in New Zealand

Tramping, known elsewhere as hiking or bushwalking, is a popular activity in New Zealand.Tramping is defined as a recreational activity involving walking over rough country carrying all the required food and equipment....
 (particularly for overnight and longer trips), walking or bushwalking. Multi-day hiking in the mountainous regions of India
India

India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, the List of countries by population country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world....
, Nepal
Nepal

Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia and is the world's youngest republic. It is bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by India....
, North America
North America

North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost totally in the western hemisphere....
, South America
South America

South America is the southern continent of the Americas, situated entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere....
, and in the highlands of East Africa
East Africa

East Africa or Eastern Africa is the easterly region of the African continent, variably defined by geography or geopolitics. In the UN subregion, 19 territories constitute Eastern Africa:...
 is also called trekking. Hiking a long-distance trail
Long-distance trail

Long-distance trails are the longer recreational Right-of-way routes mainly through rural areas, used for non-motorised recreational travelling ....
 from end to end is also referred to as trekking and as thru-hiking
Thru-hiking

Thru-hiking is the process of hiking a long-distance trail from end to end. The term is most commonly associated with the Appalachian Trail, but is also used for other lengthy trails and long distance hikes, including the Pacific Crest Trail, and the Continental Divide Trail....
 in some places.

Comparison with other forms of touring

Hiking is one of the fundamental outdoor activities
Outdoor activity

Outdoor activities usually mean Action done in nature away from civilization, such as hill walking, trekking, canoeing, running, kayaking, rafting, climbing, caving, and arguably broader groups such as Water sport s and Winter sport....
 on which many others are based. Many beautiful places can only be reached overland by hiking, and enthusiasts regard hiking as the best way to see nature. Hikers see it as better than a tour in a vehicle
Vehicle

Vehicles, derived from the Latin word, vehiculum, are non-living means of transport. Most often they are manufactured , although some other means of transport which are not made by humans also may be called vehicles; examples include icebergs and floating tree trunks....
 of any kind (or on an animal; see horseback riding
Equestrianism

Equestrianism refers to the skill of riding or driving horses. This broad description includes both use of horses for practical, working animal purposes as well as recreational activities and animals in sport....
) because the hiker's senses are not intruded upon by distractions such as window
Window

File:OldShipWindows.jpgA window is an opening in a wall that allows the passage of light and, if not closed or sealed, air and sound. Windows are usually glazed or covered in some other transparency or translucent material....
s, engine
Engine

An engine is a mechanical device that produces some form of output from a given input.An engine whose purpose is to produce kinetic energy output from a fuel is called a Wiktionary:prime mover; alternatively, a motor is a device which produces kinetic energy from a preprocessed "fuel" ....
 noise, airborne dust
Dust

Dust is a general name for minute solid particles with diameters less than 20 Thou . Particles in the Earth's atmosphere arise from various sources such as soil dust lifted up by wind, volcanic eruptions, and pollution....
 and fellow passengers. Hiking over long distances or over difficult terrain requires both the physical ability to do the hike and the knowledge of the route and its pitfalls.

Environmental impact


Hikers often seek beautiful natural environment
Natural environment

The natural environment, commonly referred to simply as the environment, is a term that encompasses all life and non-living things occurring nature on Earth or some region thereof....
s in which to hike. Ironically, these environments are often fragile: hikers may accidentally destroy the environment that they enjoy. The action of an individual may not strongly affect the environment. However, the mass effect of a large number of hikers can degrade the environment. For example, gathering wood in an alpine
Alpine climate

Alpine climate is the average weather for a region above the tree line. The climate becomes colder at high elevations—this characteristic is described by the adiabatic lapse rate of air: air tends to get colder as it rises, since it expands....
 area to start a fire may be harmless once (except for wildfire
Wildfire

A wildfire is any uncontrolled, non-structure fire that occurs in the wilderness, wildland, or The Bush. Synonyms such as wildland fire, forest fire, brush fire, vegetation fire, grass fire, Peat#Fires, bushfire , and hill fire are commonly used....
 risk). Years of gathering wood, however, can strip an alpine area of valuable nutrients.

Generally, protected areas such as parks have regulations in place to protect the environment. If hikers follow such regulations, their impact can be minimized. Such regulations include forbidding wood fires, restricting camping
Camping

Camping is an outdoor recreational activity.The participants, known as campers, get away from urban areas, their home region or civilization and enjoy nature while spending one or more nights, usually at a campsite....
 to established camp sites, disposing or packing out faecal matter
Human feces

Human Feces , also known as stools, is the waste product of the human digestive system and varies significantly in appearance, depending on the state of the whole digestive system, influenced by diet and health....
, imposing a quota on the number of hikers per mile.

Many hikers espouse the philosophy of Leave No Trace
Leave No Trace

Leave No Trace is a set of principles for participation in outdoor recreation that seeks to minimize the impact on the natural environment. Proponents of Leave No Trace believe that individual impacts caused by recreation can accumulate to degrade the land....
: hiking in a way such that future hikers cannot detect the presence of previous hikers. Practitioners of this philosophy obey its strictures, even in the absence of area regulations. Followers of this practice follow strict practices on dealing with food waste, food packaging, and alterations to the surrounding environment.

Human waste is often a major source of environmental impact from hiking. These wastes can contaminate the watershed and make other hikers ill. Bacteria
Bacteria

The Bacteria are a large group of unicellular microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria have a wide range of shapes, ranging from spheres to rods and spirals....
l contamination can be avoided by digging 'cathole
Cathole

A cathole is a pit for human feces. Catholes are frequently used for the purpose of disposing of bowel movements by hikers and others engaging in outdoor recreation....
s' 10 to 25 cm (4 to 10 inches) deep, depending on local soil composition and covering after use. If these catholes are dug at least 60 m (200 feet) away from water sources and trails, the risk of contamination is minimized. Many hikers warn other hikers about the location of their catholes by marking them with sticks stuck into the ground.

Sometimes hikers enjoy viewing rare or endangered species. However, some species (such as martens
Marten

The Martens constitute the genus Martes within the subfamily Mustelinae, in family Mustelidae. They are slender, agile, animals, adapted to living in taigas, and are found in coniferous and northern deciduous forests across the northern hemisphere....
 or bighorn sheep
Bighorn Sheep

Bighorn sheep is a species of sheep in North America and Siberia with large horns which can weigh up to . Recent genetic testing indicates that there are three distinct subspecies of Ovis canadensis, one of which is endangered: Ovis canadensis sierrae....
) are very sensitive to the presence of humans, especially around mating season. To prevent adverse impact, hikers should learn the habits and habitats of endangered species.

There is one situation where an individual hiker can make a large impact on an ecosystem: inadvertently starting a wildfire. For example, in 2005, a Czech backpacker burned 7% of Torres del Paine National Park
Torres del Paine National Park

Torres del Paine National Park is a Chilean National Park encompassing a mountains, glacier, lake, and river-rich area in southern Chile. The Cordillera del Paine is the centerpiece of the park....
 in Chile
Chile

Chile, officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long and narrow coastal strip wedged between the Andes mountains and the Pacific Ocean....
 by knocking over an illegal gas portable stove
Portable stove

A Portable stove is a Cooker specially designed to be portable and lightweight, as for camping .The division of portable stoves into several broad categories is based on the type of fuel used in the stove: stoves that use solid or liquid fuel that is placed in the burner before ignition; stoves that use volatile liquid fuel in a pressur...
. Obeying area regulations and setting up cooking devices on bare ground will reduce the risk of wildfire.

Hikingontrail

Personal safety hazards


Hiking may produce threats to personal safety. These threats can be dangerous circumstances while hiking and/or specific accidents or ailments. Diarrhea has been found to be the most common illness afflicting long-distance hikers in the United States. (See Wilderness acquired diarrhea.)

Dangerous hiking circumstances include losing the way, inclement weather, hazardous terrain, or exacerbation of pre-existing medical conditions. Specific accidents include metabolic imbalances (such as dehydration
Dehydration

Dehydration is the removal of water from an object. In Physiology terms, it entails a relative deficiency of water molecules in relation to other dissolved solutes....
 or hypothermia
Hypothermia

Hypothermia is a condition in which an organism's temperature drops below that required for normal metabolism and bodily functions. In warm-blooded animals, core body temperature is maintained near a constant level through biologic homeostasis....
), topical injuries (such as frostbite
Frostbite

Frostbite is the medical condition wherein localized damage is caused to skin and other biological tissue due to extreme cold.Frostbite is most likely to happen in body parts farthest from the heart and those with large exposed areas....
 or sunburn
SunBurn

SunBurn is a regional event held in Florida. Although SunBurn has its roots in the annual Burning Man festival in Nevada, it is not an official Burning Man event, because the organizers of SunBurn do not condone the direction that the Burning Man Organization has taken over the years....
), attacks by animals, or internal injuries (such as ankle
Ankle

In human anatomy, the ankle joint is formed where the foot and the human leg meet. The ankle, or talocrural joint, is a synovial hinge joint that connects the distal ends of the tibia and fibula in the lower limb with the proximal end of the talus bone in the foot....
 sprain
Sprain

A sprain is an injury which occurs to ligaments caused by being stretched beyond their normal capacity and possibly torn. Muscular tears caused in the same manner are referred to as a Strain_....
).

Hikers often propose a set of behavioral prescriptions to minimize these threats. A well-known example of such a set of prescription is the Ten Essentials
Ten Essentials

The Ten Essentials is a list of essential items hiking authorities promote as recommended for safe travel in the backcountry.The Ten Essentials were first described in the 1930s by The Mountaineers , a hiking and mountain climbing club....
.

See also

  • Hiking equipment
    Hiking equipment

    Hiking equipment is gear or equipment that one takes along on an outdoors hiking trip. While hiking is considered different than backpacking , the equipment is of necessity of a shorter term more practical nature for such a walk....
  • List of long-distance footpaths
    List of long-distance footpaths

    This is a list of some long-distance footpaths used for walking and hiking.----...
  • Ten essential items of gear
    Ten Essentials

    The Ten Essentials is a list of essential items hiking authorities promote as recommended for safe travel in the backcountry.The Ten Essentials were first described in the 1930s by The Mountaineers , a hiking and mountain climbing club....


Types

  • Backpacking
    Backpacking (wilderness)

    Backpacking combines hiking and Camping in a single trip. A backpacker hikes into the backcountry to spend one or more nights there, and carries supplies and equipment to satisfy sleeping and eating needs....
     – also known as trekking, a multi-day, often arduous hike especially in mountainous regions
  • Dog hiking
    Dog hiking

    File:Dog hiking in Manitou Springs.jpgDog hiking refers to a form of hiking in which dogs travel alongside their owners. Several companies manufacturer packs in various sizes, so that the dogs may carry their own food and/or bowls....
     – hiking with dogs
  • Freehiking
    Freehiking

    Freehiking means to Naked hiking. The term is also less frequently applied to a form of hiking in which the participants intentionally avoid trails and predetermined destinations....
     - hiking while unclothed, also hiking off-trail
  • Hillwalking
    Hillwalking

    In United Kingdom, the term hillwalking or fellwalking is normally used to describe the recreational practice of walking in hilly or mountainous terrain, generally with the intention of visiting the summit of hills and mountains....
     - an English form of hiking
  • Scrambling
    Scrambling

    Scrambling is a method of ascending rocky faces and ridges. It is an ambiguous term that lies somewhere between hillwalking and Climbing. It is often distinguished from hillwalking by defining a scramble as a route where hands must be used in the ascent....
     - "non-technical" rock climbing or mountaineering OR "technical" hiking
  • Thru-hiking
    Thru-hiking

    Thru-hiking is the process of hiking a long-distance trail from end to end. The term is most commonly associated with the Appalachian Trail, but is also used for other lengthy trails and long distance hikes, including the Pacific Crest Trail, and the Continental Divide Trail....
     – hiking a trail from end to end
  • Ultralight backpacking
    Ultralight backpacking

    Ultralight backpacking is an advanced style of Backpacking that emphasizes packing the lightest weight safely possible for a given Hiking and the techniques necessary when using ultralight gear....
  • Waterfall
    Waterfall

    A waterfall is usually a geology geologic formation resulting from water, often in the form of a stream, flowing over an erosion-resistant rock formation that forms a nickpoint, or sudden break in elevation....
    ing – AKA waterfall hunting and waterfall hiking is hiking with the purpose of finding and enjoying waterfalls


Related activities

  • Cross-country skiing
    Cross-country skiing

    Cross-country skiing is a winter sport in which participants propel themselves across snow-covered terrain using skis and poles. It is popular in many countries with large snowfields, primarily Northern Europe, Canada, Alaska and the Upper Midwest....
     - often the equivalent of hiking in snowy lands during wintertime
  • Fell running
    Fell running

    Fell running, also known as mountain running and hill running, is the sport of running and racing, off road, over upland country where the gradient climbed is a significant component of the difficulty....
     - An English and Welsh sport of running over rough mountainous ground, often off-trail. Known as Hill running in Scotland and Ireland. Similarities exist with Mountain running popular overseas, but also many differences.
  • Geocaching
    Geocaching

    Geocaching is an outdoor Treasure hunt game in which the participants use a Global Positioning System GPS receiver or other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers anywhere in the world....
     – outdoor treasure-hunting game
  • Orienteering
    Orienteering

    Orienteering is a family of sports that require navigational skills using a map and compass to navigate from point to point in diverse and usually unfamiliar terrain....
     – running sport involving navigation with a map and compass
  • River trekking
    River trekking

    River trekking or river tracing is a form of hiking or outdoor adventure activity, particularly popular in Hong Kong and Taiwan, and, in some ways, similar to canyoning or canyoneering....
  • Rogaining
    Rogaining

    Rogaining is the sport of long distance cross-country navigation . Championship Rogaines are 24 hours long, however Rogaines can be as short as 2 hours....
     – sport of long distance cross-country navigation
  • Trail blazing
    Trail blazing

    Trail blazing is the practice of marking paths in outdoor recreational areas with blazes, markings that follow each other at certain — though not necessarily exactly defined — distances and mark the direction of the trail....


External links

  • - category on hiking sites, from the Open Directory