HikeArizona.COM

I have asked fellow hikers this question, and so far, I haven't gotten an answer that really seems to satisfy me. So, I've decided to expand my query, and take it to the masses.

Has anyone else had a conversation w/ someone where you mention that you hike, and they say, "Oh really? So do I". Only to find out their idea of hiking is strolling along the Scottsdale Greenbelt!! I have had friends want to hike w/ me, only to turn around 1.5 miles into the hike saying, "This isn't hiking... this is mountain-goating"

There has to be a better term for what we do... bushwhacking, traversing, trekking, adventuring, bouldering, climbing peaks and canyon walls, canyoneering, going places, doing and seeing things that "regular" hikers would never ever consider. Is there a word, phrase, term, etc. that encompasses all of the above and then some?????

Suggestions and/or opinions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

I look at camelback as minor bouldering. I have really only stuck to trails out here unless I get lost and most of them are scenic walks...

Alot of people and especially in the midwest are used to flat terrain and the biggest problem is falling in a creek or getting bit by alot of mosquitoes...

My definitions:

Climbing: You need ropes or a deathwish.
Bouldering: Yeah, you have to use both hands and feet.
Hiking: Hands not really required but a PITA if you dont have any...
Bushwacking and Trailblazing means your off trail and on your own, quite possibly requiring all of the above...

I remember Climbing up the cliffs of the Grand Canyon with 70# packs on our backs because we lost the trail. No ropes and such... That I call Stupid...

A couple of years ago, a group of my friends and I hiked (and waded) West Fork. We went back about 3 or 4 miles beyond the "end of the trail". On our way back out, after we got back to the trail, 5 of us were hiking along single file at about a 5 mile an hour clip. At one of the many stream crossings, an older couple saw us coming, stepped to the side of the trail and as we passed, we heard the man tell his wife, "there go the Power Hikers". Maybe that describes some of our hikes. Certainly things like the Superstition Ridgeline would better be described as "Adventuring". Flatiron is part hiking, part canyoneering, part scrambling and part bouldering.

I think that when you're talking to someone about hiking, and they say they also hike, you should emphasize what you REALLY mean by hiking. And, I wouldn't hesitate to ask them about the kind of "hikes" they've done.

Terms other HAZ'ERs have used to describe what we do, or more accurately what we are,
Insane, Nuts, Masochistic and the most recent Lunatic . I feel all these terms are true and pretty much describe it, but other people still wouldn't understand, unless they experienced it first. :roll:

I hike, others stroll.

JB,
What we do is hiking. What the friends you refer to do would be walking or something else. Hiking is hiking, we all know what it is. If they want to call it hiking, that's fine. We just need to be sure we're all on the same page when they want to go with us on a hike.

People just call me addicted and a big dork. Of course I call myself that as well so maybe it doesn't count. I think people like to call 1.5 miles hiking, but to me that is just a walk in the park.

Exactly, thats my point... other people, seemingly the majority, has this idea of hiking as some sorta long stroll off the beaten path, but nothing really too big of a deal or even too strenuous. So, I've thought maybe it was me that had the wrong idea... maybe I shouldn't be looking for a stronger, more descript word... maybe its everyone else who is using the term "hiking" incorrectly!!???

I guess "hiking" is the stronger, more descript word for what we do... maybe I'm searching for a word or phrase that just doesn't exist because "hiking" is it. After all, this is what I always thought hiking to be. Its just been within the past 6 months when I'm trying to describe what I do that other people make the same comments... "Oh, thats not hiking, thats crazy!... Or... I hike too, but not like that!!" Or they get out there w/ me and can't keep up. And they tell me its me!! They tell me that I don't hike, I do something else.

So, I just wondered if indeed the majority was right... Do we hike? Or do we do something else beyond the norm??

The ratings say it all!Mild,moderate strenuous;but add "risky" "insane" "death march"etc.

It's like running: a 5K or a marathon, it's all running. Just different degrees of, er, "commitment".

The biggest problem is that with the advent of "nature" trails that are very mild and have a short loop through a park of some sort, people think that if they are walking on something other than a sidewalk they are "hiking." Well, technically, maybe, they are. But only inasmuch as they get a little dust on their boots. The popular craze of getting out to these "nature" trails has contributed more to the misconception of "hiking" as anything. It has only been in the last few years that I have started to run into people that show the characteristics of the wimps you mention.

I HIKE with a capital H. They hike - with a little dirt.
I'll go if it's raining, they'll go if it's "nice" outside.
I get minor flesh wounds - they get a little exercise.
I don't mind climbing a boulder/cliff or two - they don't like climbing stairs.
I want to get WAY away from it all - they need to be within 15 minutes of the nearest Starbucks.
I see a mountain and think "What does it look like from on TOP of that?" - they look at a mountain and think: "How nice."

Give me Flatiron any day.

I second that Olesma!

To me, the word " Hiking " automatically includes mountians. If a person is walking the scottsdale Greenbelt, then He/She is simply walking. Not that there is anything wrong with that.

Here is what Dictionary.com says " Hiking - To go on an extended walk for pleasure or exercise. "

Maybe we need a new term.

Dictionary.com is affiliated with one of those "walkers".

For me the best word is trekking (not sure if I even spelled it right). This has the connotation (spelling??? Ok maybe usage as well) of going where no one has gone before (I think I heard that somewhere before, oh well). I enjoy walking the urban trails of Phoenix, however, there is nothing to compare with a trek on the Bright Angel Trail or three days of trekking along the Arizona Trail.

Cakewalk wrote:Here is what Dictionary.com says " Hiking - To go on an extended walk for pleasure or exercise. "

Maybe we need a new term.

SEE!! This is EXACTLY what I was talking about!! The word "hiking" does not come close to describing what we do... an extended walk... thats exactly what people think I mean when I say I hike.

What I'm looking for is that NEW term that can more clearly and better describes ALL of what we do that goes above and beyond just simply taking an extended "walk" along some flat dirt!!

Like Olesma said and he said it perfectly...

I HIKE with a capital H. They hike - with a little dirt.
I'll go if it's raining, they'll go if it's "nice" outside.
I get minor flesh wounds - they get a little exercise.
I don't mind climbing a boulder/cliff or two - they don't like climbing stairs.
I want to get WAY away from it all - they need to be within 15 minutes of the nearest Starbucks.
I see a mountain and think "What does it look like from on TOP of that?" - they look at a mountain and think: "How nice."

How 'Bout "Infarction", or "Arrythmia"?



-R

Randy wrote:How 'Bout "Infarction", or "Arrythmia"?



-R

I'm reminded of the Dogie Trial.... and the counterclockwise Cave Trail... and the Ridgeline...

What a great topic! I've had that same issue...the recent issue of Phoenix Magazine has local trails a topic...the cover shot has a couple at the base of the Sups...presumably near Siphon Draw...which is all well and fine...except for their clothes...they're decked out like a Lands End catalog. It's a totally different type of hiking...I've watched people at trailheads wait for someone to leave in order to have parking space "closer" to the trailhead...I mean, come on!

I agree, hiking just doesn't seem to cut it some of the time. If I pick a hike, Pat askes if its a hike or a death march...I like the death marches more

I like Rich Hale's term..."adventure hiking"

http://www.adventurehiking.com

Lately, I've been hearing the term "extreme hiking", but frankly, I think that term extreme has become too commercial lately!! EVERYTHING is extreme these days. And thats too bad, because that could actually work, if it just wasnt so overused.