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Hiking is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century. Religious pilgrimages have existed much longer but they involve walking long distances for a spiritual purpose associated with specific religions. In the United States, Canada, the Republic of Ireland, and the United Kingdom, hiking means walking outdoors on a trail, or off trail, for recreational purposes. A day hike refers to a hike that can be completed in a single day.

Hiking is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century. Religious pilgrimages have existed much longer but they involve walking long distances for a spiritual purpose associated with specific religions. In the United States, Canada, the Republic of Ireland, and the United Kingdom, hiking means walking outdoors on a trail, or off trail, for recreational purposes. A day hike refers to a hike that can be completed in a single day. However, in the United Kingdom, the word walking is also used, as well as rambling, while walking in mountainous areas is called hillwalking. In Northern England, Including the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales, fellwalking describes hill or mountain walks, as fell is the common word for both features there. However, the idea of taking a walk in the countryside only really developed during the 18th century in Europe, and arose because of changing attitudes to the landscape and nature associated with the Romantic movement. In earlier times walking generally indicated poverty and was also associated with vagrancy. In previous centuries long walks were undertaken as part of religious pilgrimages and this tradition continues throughout the world. Hiking, walking in nature as a recreational activity. Especially among those with sedentary occupations, hiking is a natural exercise that promotes physical fitness, is economical and convenient, and requires no special equipment. Because hikers can walk as far as they want, there is no physical strain unless they walk among hills or mountains. Hiking is basic to many sporting activities and is also a widely recommended and practiced form of physical training. For example, hiking constitutes a large part of mountain climbing; experienced mountaineers know that they must train themselves for the long, arduous hikes over the lower trails and across glaciers and snowfields. Backpack camping, hunting, cross-country skiing and snowshoeing, and orienteering are other sports and sporting activities in which hiking is important. The ability to walk considerable distances without becoming overtired (an ability generally acquired through practice) also enhances the enjoyment of such other activities as bird-watching, nature walks, field trips of all sorts, and even sightseeing. Hiking is used as a test of fitness, notably in England, where it is embraced in the duke of Edinburgh’s scheme for boys and girls, and in Sweden and the Netherlands. In Sweden it was made a national fitness test in the early 1930s, and by the 1970s more than three million Swedish men, women, and boys possessed the time qualification badge.