What is hiking?

Hiking is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. "Hiking" is the preferred term in Canada and the United States; the term "walking" is used in these regions for shorter, particularly urban walks. In the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, the word "walking" describes all forms of walking, whether it is a walk in the park or backpacking in the Alps. The word hiking is also often used in the UK, along with rambling (a slightly old-fashioned term), hillwalking, and fell walking (a term mostly used for hillwalking in northern England). The term bushwalking is endemic to Australia, having been adopted by the Sydney Bush Walkers club in 1927. In New Zealand a long, vigorous walk or hike is called tramping. It is a popular activity with numerous hiking organizations worldwide, and studies suggest that all forms of walking have health benefits.

Etiquette

Because hikers may come into conflict with other users of the land or may harm the natural environment, hiking etiquette has developed.

• When two groups of hikers meet on a steep trail, a custom has developed in some areas whereby the group moving uphill has the right-of-way.
• Various organizations recommend that hikers generally avoid making loud sounds, such as shouting or loud conversation, playing music, or the use of mobile phones. However, in bear country, hikers use intentional noise-making as a safety precaution to avoid startling bears.
• The Leave No Trace movement offers a set of guidelines for low-impact hiking: "Leave nothing but footprints. Take nothing but photos. Kill nothing but time. Keep nothing but memories".
• Various nature organizations advise hikers not to feed wild animals, because this can harm the animals, either by giving them inappropriate foods or by weakening their ability to hunt and forage.

The Text is taken from Wikipedia[0] and is licensed under the Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License[1].

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiking

[1] https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Hiking in the US

Hiking in the UK