A Slow Hiker

Photo Credit: Brenda H

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I've been hiking and snowshoeing for years now and I just don't get faster. Most days it bugs me. I try to keep up but I just can't. It seems as I come around the bend and my hiking group is waiting I feel as if they are annoyed. I have struggled with this for years. 

Last weekend my dear friend Corinne, mentioned what hiking was suppose to be. Albert W. Palmer and John Muir had a conversation ann it went like this..."There are always some people in the mountains who are known as "hikers." They rush over the trail at high speed and take great delight in being the first to reach camp and in covering the greatest number of miles in the least possible time. they measure the trail in terms of speed and distance.One day as I was resting in the shade Mr. Muir overtook me on the trail and began to chat in that friendly way in which he delights to talk with everyone he meets. I said to him: "Mr. Muir, someone told me you did not approve of the word 'hike.' Is that so?" His blue eyes flashed, and with his Scotch accent he replied: "I don't like either the word or the thing. People ought to saunter in the mountains - not hike!
"Do you know the origin of that word 'saunter?' It's a beautiful word. Away back in the Middle Ages people used to go on pilgrimages to the Holy Land, and when people in the villages through which they passed asked where they were going, they would reply, "A la sainte terre,' 'To the Holy Land.' And so they became known as sainte-terre-ers or saunterers. Now these mountains are our Holy Land, and we ought to saunter through them reverently, not 'hike' through them."
John Muir lived up to his doctrine. He was usually the last man to reach camp. He never hurried. He stopped to get acquainted with individual trees along the way. He would hail people passing by and make them get down on hands and knees if necessary to see the beauty of some little bed of almost microscopic flowers. Usually he appeared at camp with some new flowers in his hat and a little piece of fir bough in his buttonhole."

I guess I wanted to write this so I'd feel better about being slow, or to make you feel better about being slow or if people wanted to start hiking but were worried they'd be slow. I love my time in nature. I love hearing the sounds, smelling the smells and taking in every single moment while sauntering in the woods. It calms my soul. It's great to get to the top and see the views but it's also great to see so much along the way. Happy & safe hiking!