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The movie "A Walk in the Woods," about two old friends who hike the Appalachian Trail, is playing at Sundance. My wife and I saw it Friday.
Much like when I saw the film "Wild" a few weeks ago, "A Walk in the Woods" made me realize a few things about hiking.
Hiking is great for conversation • "Wild" made me realize hiking alone is great. I still believe that. But when you want company on the trail, expect to have a great talk. There's no television or other common distractions to, well, distract you. Other than an occasional handful of trail mix, no one is going to be talking with their mouth full. About the only thing that can halt the conversation is panting.
Gear is overrated • I acknowledge this is an easy thing to say for someone who has never backpacked. I'm always back to the trail head by sundown. But my observation has been anyone with descent shoes and a way to carry water and food can hike. A 2010 profile of hiking guide author Michael Kelsey in High Country News described how he would buy running shoes a size too big and stuff them with thick insoles for greater shock absorption. Take that, $200 hiking boots!
Push yourself only as far as you want • That mountain, lake, overlook or forest will be there another time. Even if you never get an opportunity for a second try, pushing yourself to exhaustion or risking injury isn't worth the view. Remember, hiking is supposed to be fun. When it's not, stop.
Hikes turn into stories — usually funny ones • The odd thing about this is the hikes that weren't fun at the time still get told with a smile or laugh later. My wife smirks when she talks about the time in the rain on a trail in the Manti-La Sal National Forest when I invited the backpacker from Minnesota to follow us back to our campsite to stay for the night. She was afraid the guy was an ax murderer. If he was, he was grateful enough not to kill us.
I can laugh about the time I tumbled on a slickrock slope in Arches National Park I shouldn't have been on. I wasn't hurt, but rather than chuckle when it happened, my friends scolded me and reminded me a serious injury would have meant calling a helicopter to fly me to a hospital.
Those are just the hikes that suffered mild difficulties. There's more hikes my friends and family and I remember fondly all the way through, like the time a group of us saw a bighorn sheep in Canyonlands National Park and named it Steve or when a group of 13 of us hiked the Fiery Furnace. When us hiking companions get together, the stories of these trails get repeated.
— Nate Carlisle is among The Salt Lake Tribune reporters who contribute to the Utah Hike of the Week. A former Hike of the Week is tweeted every morning from @UtahHikes.