Is this...normal?

2021 PCT Section Hike

Is hiking for hundreds or thousands of miles for weeks or months at a time normal? It feels normal to me. Hiking is not something I just do as a hobby or exercise activity. I AM a HIKER. I spend hours researching and planning hikes. I get excited looking at hiking pictures and videos. I stand in front of my hiking gear closet in the garage and smile. I smell my hiking clothes and have a Pavlovian response. I weigh every piece of gear that goes into my pack. I have an Amazon hiking wish list! I literally dream about hiking. And when someone asks me about hiking, I can't stop talking!

There is no research yet to indicate if hikers are "born this way" or if we choose to be hikers. Personally, I use "born this way" as an excuse with non-hiking family and friends when they question how much I hike and I celebrate the "choice to hike" when I meet other like-minded hikers! It's kind of like having my gluten-free cake and eating it too! There is also no diagnostic test for hiking, although there is this you might be a thru-hiker if checklist that might be helpful, funny, or both. 

If you want to know what being a hiker feels like, I encourage you to watch this YouTube video. Warning to my Baptist friends: There is some questionable language and wardrobe choices.

If you don't want to immediately go for a hike after watching this video, then you are probably not a hiker, and that's okay.  I still love you and am happy to share my hiking adventures with you. That's one of the reasons for this blog.

And if you think you might be a hiker, or at least curious, let me know and we can go for a hike together and talk about...hiking! 

Thanks for following along!

Loren