Why Do I Love Hiking?

One of my friends asked me that question while we were chitchatting the other night at the gym. For someone who was not in the mood to tell a long story, six words sufficed: “I love being one with nature.”

Of course, there is more to those words than he could dig. The chance to draw the story out has come.

So, why do I love hiking?

First, I love mincing the awe-inspiring views at the peak: clouds, feathered creatures showing off their flying prowess, and aerial view of the low-lying lands and those in between hills…These are only some of what you can photograph atop. There is no other way to experience this exquisite feeling of amazement when you see the world at a higher level—literally and figuratively—than to hike for it.

Second, it gives me a clear answer about how far my stamina can go. I have been frequenting the gym for quite some time now but I never had the chance to calibrate it to its maximum until I came across hiking. Doing it fuels me more to maintain my weight and shape (“When the Passive Health Buff is Provoked, the Blabbermouth Squeals“).

Third, the kind of freedom it gives adds up to the top reasons. I can eat whatever and whenever I want without feeling chagrined knowing that I am burning them anyway. The opportunity to dance along with the long legs of the clock is also something else. I can explore at my own pace without a particular schedule, no phones, less worries…just a hungry-for-perspiration spirit on the loose.

Fourth, would be the adventure. I savor the challenges head-on. Every step, every cut, every mosquito bite, every inquietude along the way is delicious. I was never bothered about having to eat the discomforts that hiking offers but dithyrambic.

Fifth, it gives me the appetite to know what is inside and what is at the peak of the other mountains or, in this case, tuwaiqs and what awaits inside the giant gorges. There is so much wonder in or on each of said land forms.

Sixth, it brings me closer to the Aura up in the sky. The more I see creatures from the plant and animal kingdom, the more I understand life; the more I acknowledge the fact that I’m just a dot in the universe.

To spark among the quattuordecillion dots in the Milky Way means interacting with His creations even with a vermin. I appreciate and respect the trees, the flowers, the grasses, the decaying plants and animals, and most of all, the nourishing air of the mountains. The latter speaks of how I feed my soul. The two most important things I do at the summit are to commune with nature & Him, and charge my lungs with the air element – the universal power of pure substance according to traditional cultures.

And finally, to share the life lessons, realizations, and different visual wonders I get from every hiking experience. We never know who we can inspire out there, with our stories.

I’m taking my hat off to the woman who’s been cheering me on this passion, my family, my friends, and to my hiking buddies and masters. Life is accelerating because of you!

Related Articles

• Platteklip Georgina : Table Mountain Conquered (shantarella.wordpress.com)
• Another excursion-Aconcagua (travellersplaces.wordpress.com)
• Summit Fever (stravaigerjohn.wordpress.com)