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Any keen Hikers or climbers in here?

Higgins86

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Me and the wife caught the hiking bug when we lived in New England and have never looked back. We hiked most of the 4k's in NH and we even got into some more aggressive stuff like Ice climbing, since moving back to Europe we have continued to climb/ hike and we are planning to summit Mount Blanc this spring which to date will be our highest climb.

Any climbers or hikers on here? If so what do you love about it?
 
I hike, but I've never rock climbed. I mean, I climb up rocks and stuff, and pretty rough/steep terrain, but never with rope, up, like, a cliff face, or anything.

I got started in the mountains in SC/NC as a kid, and into the boy scouts, and am in the process of trying to get my daughter to love it too.
 


I enjoy the rock climbing but my wife enjoys it more than I do. I'm quite happy with the hiking lol. Amazing feeling when you hike especially in North America, the scenery is breath taking and you can take it in more when your just hiking. Best feeling in the world for me is reaching the top and enjoying a little sip of Scotch.
 



I used to go hiking and backwoods camping quite a lot, trying to get back into it.

Used to do some rock climbing and rapelling too, though I think my rock climbing days are over. Too much middle-age solidity to dangle from my fingernails anymore.
 
Goshin said:
I used to go hiking and backwoods camping quite a lot, trying to get back into it.

Used to do some rock climbing and rapelling too, though I think my rock climbing days are over. Too much middle-age solidity to dangle from my fingernails anymore.
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It's a young man's game Goshin .

I have to say my wifes climbing ambitions are much bigger than mine, I kind of just tag along and hope I make it. She however is bloody fearless, haven't even scaled Mount Blanc yet and she is already looking at what we have to climb in order to get ready for some of the big ones I Nepal or Pakistan. I recently watched the movie Everest and I read " into thin air" so I am all set with the " death zone" mountains. I told her she can climb them but I want it written into her will that I can marry a hot blond swede within 6 months.
 

I'm a mixed bag...yeah, SOME summits, when reached, are awesome, and give me a feeling of accomplishment. Others, though...they're not that great, and so heavily visited. For me, it's about discovery. I like to get off the path. It's a mental thing. I guess I just can't stand the thought of going exactly the same way, to the same place, as so many millions of other hikers.

And then, there are places out there that are just so beautiful that the summit just pales in comparison. I like it best in the fall. Vibrant colors, minimal pests, and less sweat in the armpits, lol. I remember this one small mountain (large hill, really) I hiked up in upstate NY, and it had a lake at the top. Probably the most beautiful place I've ever seen, made even better by the fact that it wasn't some state park, some heavily traveled trail. I found it by accident. I doubt I'm the first person to, however, I like that I wasn't LED there by the beaten path. And then drinking that ice cold water and just sitting there, listening...it was a great moment.
 
I enjoy a good hike, but don't get to do it too often. I'm a terrible hiker too, I got off the tracks to look for reptiles and interesting things and take twice as along to complete a track as anyone else.
 
spud_meister said:
I enjoy a good hike, but don't get to do it too often. I'm a terrible hiker too, I got off the tracks to look for reptiles and interesting things and take twice as along to complete a track as anyone else.
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Plus you can only really scale Syndey harbor, the opera house and the rock right?
 

Hiking in New Hampshire during autumn is really something to behold. Yes you have to deal with some busy trails at times but those colours....
 
spud_meister said:
I enjoy a good hike, but don't get to do it too often. I'm a terrible hiker too, I got off the tracks to look for reptiles and interesting things and take twice as along to complete a track as anyone else.
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That doesn't make you a terrible hiker, that makes you a FUN one. I do the same. I like to find snakes, frogs, salamanders, etc. It's what I'm using to entice my daughter into it. Last place we went, Black Rock State Park, in CT, there was this little tinny spring fed stream that had gotten block up by a fallen branch, making a little pool...little more than a puddle, honestly. In it, I found a small bullfrog, and some salamanders. My daughter LOVED them. It made the trip. She could have cared less about finishing the climb, she just wanted to stay by that pool and play with the amphibians.
 
spud_meister said:
I enjoy a good hike, but don't get to do it too often. I'm a terrible hiker too, I got off the tracks to look for reptiles and interesting things and take twice as along to complete a track as anyone else.
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I wouldn't hike in Aussie land unless I had a machete, blow torch and an uzi. Just sayin'.
 

I have a love affair with the Adirondacks. I have not hiked in a few years, but at one time, I had planned to climb the top 40 peaks (I have done 4 so far). Lately I have been thinking about it again, though. I still have the bug and love every moment.
 
Oh I love to wander around in nature. Growing up in a very rural area, next to a river and woods, I was always hiking around and enjoying the sights, smells and sounds of nature. Living in a city is kinda depressing in that way. I have to be careful where I walk, and can't just let my mind flow off on the breeze, and I can't get away from people here.

My favorite thing to do around my birthday, and especially on that day, is to go for long walks. The whole time is like a special kind of meditation. Walking, soaking in the senses while the mind rolls around all kinds of things: where I come from, what is happening, where to go for the next year. That is a time when I make serious decisions. Those walks are the greatest all year, and it also happens to be in the early autumn which is also the best time of year to go walking (in my opinion of course).

I used to go to parks to go hiking with a lot of friends, but that always kinda bugged me. I would lag behind and phase out of any talking and just let myself float along with the wind, being carried by the beauty of the natural surroundings. Until somebody would come back for me and rip me back into their reality.

Hiking is the best.
 

Not normally a hiker, but i do like to go full on outdoors where i pack food and camping gear only what i can fit in my bag, and hike around the wilderness. I just like the more real camping experience of hunters long past, and hiking was a large part of it, vs modern camping which is pulling into a parking spot where you hook up your tent to power and wifi.
 
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