The Complete Hiking Experience: Why Hiking Is Not a Pain in the Butt

By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Jeremiah_Richards]Jeremiah Richards
Growing up in the Boy Scouts, I remember being a child and forced to go on a 21 mile hike. I pretty much despised it. I couldn't understand why people would willingly do this. This is what went on in my child brain: Why the heck are people going out of their way just walk all day in a damn mountain? Not to mention the changes in weather that accompanies the trip. But just recently, I actually had a change of heart.
Now that I'm older I eventually reached this point of different thinking. I have gone on many hikes before but it wasn't until recently that I really felt like an outdoors type of person. I'm not sure why or how. But just the other day I woke up, had lunch, and went for a hike with a close friend. Expecting a dreaded day of walking in the sun and seeing dirt everywhere; I shockingly enjoyed myself.
It wasn't that the experience had anything glamorous about; it didn't. I simply started walking up the mountain, and somewhere in the middle of the hike I had this moment where things just stopped and I felt good. I stopped caring that the mountain was dusty, that there was sweat on my forehead, and that my friend kept rambling on and on.
Things just stood still, and I was in touch with the wilderness for just a few moments.
So just about a couple of decades after my first hiking experience I came to understand why people could tolerate and even enjoy hiking up a mountain. It was also the first time I enjoyed the free mountain air. Every breath I took in seemed to carry with it a scent of freshness straight from the mountain itself. I came to understand what the phrase "great mountain air" truly meant.
On top of that, I was also getting a bit of a workout. Some parts of the hike were extremely steep and it was almost a climb instead of a hike. I went up those climbs like a bear would, but slower because I don't have the claws like them. I would be getting shin-splints the following day, but unlike the other times I had been hiking, this time it had actually been worth it. For that time when I was on the mountain I really felt like the world was a pretty good place to be in.
I even appreciated the view of the city below the mountain, and I don't even like those things. I'm never the person who says "oh what a beautiful sunset" or anything like that. Yet I was mesmerized by being on this mountain top.
So much so, that afterward I thought of hiking in a completely different way. I would go as far as saying that it is even a spiritual experience. So if you ever thought hiking was a pain in the butt, I'm here to tell you that it is, but is also the doorway into something a lot better and you might want to give it another try. If nothing else, hey -you burned more calories than usual.
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Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?The-Complete-Hiking-Experience:-Why-Hiking-Is-Not-a-Pain-in-the-Butt&id=6640414] The Complete Hiking Experience: Why Hiking Is Not a Pain in the Butt