This website, TheNatureOfHiking.com, is dedicated to the art and joy of hiking in the great outdoors. We cover most of the topics of concern and interest to both inexperienced, casual hikers to the most avid. These topics range from safety, survival and equipment issues to those more internal factors which are our motivations that make us WANT to hike. These motivations vary widely and often change over time as we hike different areas, discover new interests, and mature as individuals.
The nature of hiking is that it provides human satisfaction for many varied drives within each individual. The following list is intended to “paint a picture” – a picture of why people love to hike. It encompasses a very wide assortment of activities that touch the human soul through our multiple senses in a way that leads to strong feelings of satisfaction, joy, and peace. It leaves us with a special “connectedness” with nature. Read this list slowly to let the overall picture develop. Visualize it, feel it.. > > > > Click Here to LEARN MORE < < < <
Do you wonder what type and size backpack you need for your dayhike/overnight jaunts? How about for longer trips of a few days, or for spending months on some of the longest trails in the world? Varying trip durations will require different choices of packs and equipment to optimize comfort, efficiency and safety.
Thanks to REI for the following infographic on How to Choose and Use a Backpack. Pay particular attention to the instructions on packing your cats. This information is unusually difficult find.
New Zealand Winter Scene - redbubble.com via Jack and Nancy on Pinterest
Forget that extra cup of coffee! Try this…
Here’s a Research Study, from the University of Rochester, showing that getting outside in nature not only improves your energy levels, feelings of well-being and happiness, but also actually improves your health and resistance to illness. As additional supporting evidence, see our earlier post on “Hiking Can Make You Smarter!“.
The text of this article was posted by Susan Hagen in Society & Culture, entitled “Mother Nature issues a wake-up call”. Thank you, Susan.
The Research…
U. ROCHESTER (US)—Being outside in nature makes people feel more alive—and that sense of vitality exists above and beyond the energizing effects of physical activity and social interaction, new research shows.
“Nature is fuel for the soul,” says Richard Ryan, professor of psychology at the University of Rochester and lead author of a series of studies. “Often when we feel depleted we reach for a cup of coffee, but research suggests a better way to get energized is to connect with nature,” he says.
Details are published in the June 2010 issue of the Journal of Environmental Psychology.
Mt. Adams by Robert Crum - via Jack and Nancy on Pinterest
The findings, adds Ryan, are important for both mental and physical health. “Research has shown that people with a greater sense of vitality don’t just have more energy for things they want to do, they are also more resilient to physical illnesses. One of the pathways to health may be to spend more time in natural settings,” says Ryan.
In recent years, numerous experimental psychology studies have linked exposure to nature with increased energy and heightened sense of well-being. For example, research has shown that people on wilderness excursions report feeling more alive and that just recalling outdoor experiences increases feelings of happiness and health.
Other studies suggest that the very presence of nature helps to ward off feelings of exhaustion and that 90 percent of people report increased energy when placed in outdoor activities.
What is novel about this research, write the authors, is that it carefully tests whether this increased vitality associated with the outdoors is simply the feel-good spillover from physical activity and people-mixing often present in these situations. To tease out the effects of nature alone, the authors conducted five separate experiments, involving 537 college students in actual and imagined contexts.
The Experiments…
In one experiment, participants were led on a 15-minute walk through indoor hallways or along a tree-lined river path. In another, the undergraduates viewed photographic scenes of buildings or landscapes. A third experiment required students to imagine themselves in a variety of situations both active and sedentary, inside and out, and with and without others.
Two final experiments tracked participants’ moods and energy levels throughout the day using diary entries. Over either four days or two weeks, students recorded their exercise, social interactions, time spent outside, and exposure to natural environments, including plants and windows.
The Results…
Across all methodologies, individuals consistently felt more energetic when they spent time in natural settings or imagined themselves in such situations. The findings were particularly robust, notes Ryan; being outside in nature for just 20 minutes in a day was enough to significantly boost vitality levels.
garden-artistry.tumblr.com - via Jack and Nancy on Pinterest
Interestingly, in the last study, the presence of nature had an independent energizing effect above that of being outdoors. In other words, conclude the authors, being outdoors was vitalizing in large part because of the presence of nature.
The paper builds on earlier research by Ryan, Netta Weinstein, a psychologist at the University of Hamburg, Germany, and others showing that people are more caring and generous when exposed to nature.
“We have a natural connection with living things,” says Ryan. “Nature is something within which we flourish, so having it be more a part of our lives is critical, especially when we live and work in built environments.”
These studies, concludes Ryan, underscore the importance of having access to parks and natural surroundings and of incorporating natural elements into our buildings through windows and indoor plants.
Researchers from McGill University, Virginia Commonwealth University, and Concordia University contributed to the study.
So there we have it – more proof that exposure to nature, like hiking, makes you smarter, happier, more relaxed, and even healthier. What more justification do you need…
Chances are, since you’re reading this post, that you’re already a nature lover and a hiker. But if not, you’ve just read some very good reasons to Get Out There!
If you have any views on this, or experiences of your own you’d like to share, I’d love to hear from you – please leave a comment below.
Do you know what to do when confronted by a bear? Here’s some great advice from Mother Nature Network (mnn.com) about this scary subject. Just remember not to pet the bear cubs!
Did you know that April 20 through 28 is National Park Week? See our post on US National Park Hikes!
In the process of making summer vacation plans?
Why not swing through one of the more than 400 national parks the United States has to offer, particularly after getting this tantalizing glimpse of all the fun in this infographic from NationalParks.org.
If you can’t wait, though, all parks are waiving their entrance fees until Friday.
If you have any views on this, or experiences of your own you’d like to share, I’d love to hear from you – please leave a comment below.
As a nature lover who grew up in the moist forests of the Eastern United States. I spent countless hours hiking woodland trails and crossing babbling brooks in the mountains. As a young adult I took my first cross country drive and discovered the wild American West. The desert regions at first seemed “short” and strange and kind of eerie, but enticingly beautiful. Earlier, the term “desert” had me conjuring images of vast stretches of open sand dunes. And while those areas do exist in some places, most high desert areas are filled with all sorts of beautiful and fascinating vegetation – as well as myriad hiking, biking, ATV and horseback trails! Now, after having spent the equivalent of years in western desert regions (from accumulated winter-month excursions there as a “snow-bird”), the desert seems as much a home to me as my early eastern roots. My wife and I have explored and GPS mapped many many trails, especially in Arizona both in high desert areas and in the excellent Ponderosa forests of the northern mountains near Grand Canyon.
What is High Desert?
Catalina Trail - TheNatureOfHiking.com
High Desert refers to dry arid regions of the Earth that lie at higher altitude. Deserts generally are loosely defined as those regions that receive extremely low levels of rainfall per year – less than 16 inches. Below 10 inches is considered true desert. Between 10 and 16 inches is considered semi-desert. Another description would be those regions where the ground receives less water through rainfall than is lost by evaporation during a year. This is strongly dependent on the average temperature. Approximately one third of the Earth’s surface is classified as desert. Furthermore, depending on altitude and other factors, desert may be either hot or cold.
High Desert Vegetation
Although some deserts are dry enough to be virtually free of all vegetation, many have a very rich population of drought resistant plants. Many people (including my younger self) think only of vast areas of sand dunes when they picture “desert” regions. Particularly in the American West, deserts at higher altitudes are sometimes called “high desert”. High desert areas are quite beautiful and feature a wide variety of shrubby plants and cactus. These plants have adapted quite well to the arid conditions.
In most of these high desert areas, almost all the vegetation has developed effective defenses against loss of moisture and susceptibility to animal browsing. Most have nasty barbed spines, thorns, and hooks that easily tear flesh and have the diabolical property of not letting go. Furthermore, it seems that some of these are coated with chemicals that induce instant pain that lasts much longer than you’d expect from just the punctured and torn flesh. Many of the spines hurt more when you pull them out than when they went in – after all, they’re microscopically barbed.
Teddy Bear Cholla - TheNatureOfHiking.com
The Adorable “Teddy Bear”
One such high desert cactus, is the very attractive “Teddy Bear” cholla (pronounced “choy-a”) which, from a distance, appears deceptively “soft and fuzzy”. On the contrary, they are composed almost entirely of small interconnected roundish or cucumber-shaped sections that are uniformly covered with fierce 1 inch barbed spines that hold very tightly to unwary skin and clothing. These sections break off with ease at the slightest touch, leading to the common name, “Jumping Cactus” (also applied to some other varieties of cholla). When hiking through or near these chollas, it seems like the sections leap through the air to grab your arms or legs. Of course they don’t really jump, but it’s surprising how often you’ll brush against a cholla without realizing it until you suddenly do realize it – with unexpected shooting pain. Once the cholla has attached itself to you – beware! If you try to gently grab it and pull it off, you’ll find it attached firmly not only to your skin and clothing, but now also to your hand! By the way, cholla are one of those cactus that hurt even more when you pull them out. The best strategy for removal is using tools – flicking them off with long nosed pliers, a course comb (great if you’re horseback riding – cholla just love horses), or a small forked stick. Cholla sections also love to “roll” as you try to remove them. They simply roll to a new position on your skin to inflict more pain. Because they attach at multiple spine points, they will often fly off in unpredictable directions when you flick them off – all too often right into another part of your body – or into an innocent fellow hiker who’s standing around enjoying your painful adventure. Nothing like spreading the joy of nature!
Medium Sized Teddy Bear - TheNatureOfHiking.com
After a few memorable encounters with the pretty Teddy Bear, you’ll learn to walk around them just out of “jumping” range. My wife, Nancy, and I have had many “interesting” cholla events while clearing our 5 acre horse pasture (35 miles east of Phoenix, Arizona, just south of the Superstition Mountains) of many large Teddies. Once when she was removing a large cholla, a section “got away” and came flying through the air. It hit me in the back, rolled up over my shoulder, and down the front of my shirt coming to rest in the middle of my chest. It left a painful path of holes in my skin the whole way. She had one impale her on the top of her head. (NOT in retaliation, just a separate event.)
In spite of the painful needles, cattle and some other animals grazing in desert vegetation sometimes carefully eat the cholla buds and fruits. These are quite edible even for humans once once the needles are removed. This can be done by burning them off, followed by peeling and cooking – or not. The flavor, although slightly sour, is said to resemble artichoke or asparagus.
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Hiking, biking, horseback riding and ATVing in the high desert are wonderful, beautiful experiences that are well worth pursuing if you haven’t tried it already. Once you do, you’ll likely be back for more hiking in the high desert.
If you have any views on this, or experiences of your own you’d like to share, I’d love to hear from you – please leave a comment below.
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