An old Latin saying — solvitur ambulando — means “it is solved by walking.” The phrase captures one of the immutable charms of hiking: it makes it easier for the brain to work things out. I can’t count the number…
I’ve come home drenched from my last half-dozen hikes, and it’s only getting hotter with the Dog Days of August just around the bend, so I might as well revisit the sweaty realities of summer on the trail. Jeff at…
We instinctively think hiking happens in the outdoors, but on this morning’s hike it occurred to me that the experience is actually happening indoors: inside our consciousness. Everything that happens to us on a hike reflects our ability to perceive…
Yesterday I had it in my head that “mindfulness” — just existing in the now, mentally — was a great way to get your head in the game, hike-wise. It worked wonders in 30-second bursts: There’s nothing like emptying the…
Getting your mind right can do wonders for a hike, and for your perspective on all the stuff you’re hiking to get away from. I always sorta suspected as much, but I found just how true it is this morning…
Picture the scenario: you’re pushing 50, you’re 40 pounds overweight and you’re an incorrigible couch potato. A day’s gonna come soon when somebody in position to get away with making unreasonable demands is going to lay it on the line:…
It’s close to an established medical fact that a vigorous walk in the countryside makes people feel better. I’ve even noticed a local guy in the life-coaching business has a little outfit called Head Lands in which he takes people…
It’s common sense that walking up and down hills makes your body work more efficiently. It’s less well-known how good it can be for your mental state, says John McKinney, former Los Angeles Times hiking columnist, in this article at…
First thing you shouldn’t do: take two months off and think you can just charge up and down the Bay Area hills for five hours with no consequences. Come Tuesday you may equate climbing stairs with the fond thoughts normally…
