96 Fun Facts About Hiking

The Appalachian Trail runs between Springer Mountain in Georgia and which mountain in Maine?

Mount Katahdin stands in Maine's Baxter State Park, where severe weather sets in by mid-October, so northbound thru-hikers who leave Georgia in spring are told to plan on finishing before October 15.

Which state holds the most miles of the Appalachian Trail?

Virginia holds about 550 miles of the trail, nearly a quarter of it and more than any other of its 14 states, while West Virginia next door has only a few miles to itself.

Which forester conceived the idea of the Appalachian Trail in 1921?

Benton MacKaye pitched it in an architects' journal as a chain of farms and work camps for city-dwellers, not just a footpath; in 1935 he walked away from the trail conference after disputes with its chairman.

Who is credited with the first thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail, in 1948?

Earl Shaffer, back from the Pacific war, said he set out to walk the war out of his system; trail officials at first took his claim for a fraud, and at 79 he walked the whole route again.

Grandma Gatewood hiked the Appalachian Trail in 1955 with no tent, sheltering under what?

Shower curtain: it was her only cover from the rain, as she packed no tent or sleeping bag, carried a homemade sack and told her grown children only that she was going for a walk.

What footwear did Grandma Gatewood famously hike the Appalachian Trail in?

Canvas Keds sneakers carried her the whole way; a magazine article had led her to expect 'a nice lark', and she told a reporter afterwards, 'It wasn't.'

Who does most of the upkeep on the Appalachian Trail?

Volunteers from local trail clubs clear and repair the path; private citizens also laid out the route and built the footpath in the first place, finishing it in 1937.

The Pacific Crest Trail runs from the Mexican border to Canada through which three states?

California, Oregon and Washington carry the trail along their mountain crests; most thru-hikers walk it northwards from the Mexican border, the practical direction in a normal year because of the snow.

Which mountain pass is the Pacific Crest Trail's highest point?

Forester Pass, about 13,150 feet up on the boundary of Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks, had to be blasted out of the rock; a plaque remembers Donald Downs, 18, fatally hurt by a boulder loosed in 1930.

Which 2012 memoir of a solo Pacific Crest Trail hike became a 2014 film starring Reese Witherspoon?

Wild follows Cheryl Strayed's 1,100-mile walk in 1995, begun with no hiking experience; Oprah Winfrey relaunched her book club with it, and it reached No. 1 on the New York Times best-seller list.

Which three trails make up the Triple Crown of Hiking?

Appalachian, Pacific Crest and Continental Divide add up to about 7,900 miles through 22 states; finishers claim the award on the honour system, and in 2001 Brian Robinson walked all three within a single calendar year.

The Continental Divide Trail reaches the Canadian border inside which US national park?

Glacier National Park in Montana holds the trail's northern end; snow can close its high passes, which is one reason most thru-hikers start in the south in spring and arrive there in late summer.

The Continental Divide Trail reaches its highest point on Grays Peak, which stands in which state?

Colorado's Grays Peak, roughly 14,270 feet, is the highest point on the Divide itself; the taller Mount Elbert stands near the line but not on it, so the trail's high point is not the state's.

The John Muir Trail finishes on the summit of which California peak?

Mount Whitney, the highest peak in the contiguous United States, ends the trail on its very summit, so finishers still face a descent of more than ten miles to the nearest road.

John Muir was a founder and first president of which conservation organisation, established in 1892?

The Sierra Club, which Muir led until his death in December 1914, had just set up a committee to get a High Sierra trail built; the state paid $10,000 to start work in 1915, and the route was named in his memory.

What symbol marks the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage routes?

A scallop shell marks the route's waymarkers and hangs from pilgrims' packs; in the Middle Ages it was a keepsake collected at Compostela as proof that a pilgrim had completed the journey.

To earn the compostela, pilgrims prove they covered the Camino's final 100 km by collecting what in their credencial?

Stamps from hostels, churches and town halls fill the credencial; walkers need the last 100 km, cyclists 200, and anyone doing only that minimum must be stamped at the start and end of every stage.

Which 2010 film stars Martin Sheen as a father walking the pilgrim route to Santiago after his son's death?

The Way was written and directed by Sheen's real-life son Emilio Estevez, who also plays the dead son; the father flies out only to collect the body, then walks the route himself carrying the ashes.

What is the highest point on the classic Inca Trail to Machu Picchu?

Dead Woman's Pass, Warmiwañusqa in Quechua, stands about 4,200 m up and is crossed on the second day; the name comes from the ridge's outline, said to resemble a woman lying on her back.

In which month is the Inca Trail closed each year for maintenance?

February is when the trail shuts each year, in the rainy season, so that the litter walkers leave behind can be cleared.

Besides being Africa's highest peak, Kilimanjaro holds which other superlative?

Highest free-standing mountain in the world: Kilimanjaro is a dormant volcano built up by its own eruptions, not a peak in a range, so it rises about 4,900 m above the plateau around it with nothing beside it.

Kilimanjaro's Marangu route is nicknamed after which soft drink?

Coca-Cola: Marangu is the oldest route and the only one with sleeping huts, and the nickname is said to come from the soft drink sold at them and from its easy reputation; tents-only Machame is the 'Whiskey' route.

Kilimanjaro's summit, now Uhuru Peak, was named in 1889 after the ruler of which colonial power?

Germany then ruled the region as German East Africa, and Hans Meyer named the summit Kaiser Wilhelm Peak when he and Ludwig Purtscheller first reached it; independent Tanzania renamed it Uhuru, Swahili for freedom.

What do New Zealanders call hiking?

Tramping is New Zealand's word for walking over rough country; many of the tracks and huts trampers use were built for hunters culling introduced deer, and the Department of Conservation now runs over 950 huts.

Founded in 1876, which is the oldest outdoor club still active in the United States?

The Appalachian Mountain Club began in Boston to explore New Hampshire's high peaks; in 1888 it built a hut at Madison Spring, modelled on Alpine shelters, the first of a chain of mountain huts it still runs.

What is the first of the seven Leave No Trace principles?

Plan ahead and prepare covers more than packing: it asks hikers to learn an area's rules, weather and hazards before setting out, to avoid times of high use and to travel in small groups.

Which three US agencies produced the 1987 pamphlet 'Leave No Trace Land Ethics'?

NPS, Forest Service and BLM wrote it together after national park visits grew five-fold between 1950 and 1970; because rules alone antagonised visitors, the agencies turned to teaching low-impact habits instead.

The Ten Essentials list first appeared in print in the 1974 edition of which mountaineering book?

Freedom of the Hills first printed the list in its third edition in 1974; the first five items are meant to prevent and handle emergencies, the other five to get you safely through an unplanned night outdoors.

Which of these items is on the Ten Essentials list that hikers are urged to carry on every trip?

A headlamp is on the list because a walk that runs late can end in the dark, and a hands-free light lets you find the way out or signal for help; trekking poles, however useful, are not among the ten.

What colour are the blazes marking the main route of the Appalachian Trail?

White rectangles two inches wide and six tall are painted on trees and rocks along the whole route; side trails use the same shape in blue, and hikers who shortcut along them are nicknamed 'blue blazers'.

In parts of the United States, hikers follow trail markers called 'ducks', which are what?

Small stacks of rocks: a duck is piled just high enough to look deliberate, on the rule that two stacked stones could be chance but three could not; bigger piles are called cairns.

Central European trail markers such as the Czech system typically use what design?

The colour of the middle bar signals the trail's difficulty; the whole mark fits a 10 cm square.

The Appalachian Trail's lowest point, 124 feet above sea level, lies at which spot?

Bear Mountain, New York, holds the trail's lowest ground despite its name: the path runs through the Bear Mountain zoo, and the very first section of the trail was built here in 1923.

The John Muir Trail begins at Happy Isles, a trailhead in which national park?

Yosemite Valley is the trail's northern end; the route was first imagined by a 14-year-old herding cattle, Theodore Solomons, and was finished in 1938, more than two decades after work began.

Which national park does the Continental Divide Trail cross in Wyoming?

Yellowstone is the finale of the trail's Wyoming stretch: the route crosses the park's southern backcountry and passes Old Faithful, and from here north hikers are walking through grizzly country.

Which months are the usual hiking season on the John Muir Trail?

July to September is when most of last winter's snow has melted and new snow has yet to fall; earlier in the summer hikers meet snowfields on the passes and streams swollen with meltwater.

Which 14th-century Italian poet is often cited as an early recreational hiker for climbing Mont Ventoux in 1336?

Petrarch wrote that he climbed only to see what so great a height had to offer; at the top, by his account, he opened St Augustine's Confessions at a passage chiding men who admire mountains and forget themselves.

Kungsleden, the King's Trail, runs between Abisko and Hemavan through the Arctic north of which country?

Sweden's tourist association created the trail and runs mountain huts along it a day's walk apart; lakes on the way are crossed in rowing boats left for hikers, and in winter the route becomes a ski trail.

The Tour du Mont Blanc circuit passes through which three countries?

Walkers usually take 9 to 14 days going counter-clockwise; the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc runners do the whole loop inside 46 and a half hours.

Trekkers to Everest's South Base Camp usually fly from Kathmandu to which small airport to start?

Lukla's airstrip, built in 1964 under Edmund Hillary, is only 527 m long and tilts uphill at about 12 per cent, a slope that helps landing planes stop in time and departing ones pick up speed.

Scotland's West Highland Way starts at Milngavie near Glasgow and finishes in which town?

Fort William ends the 96-mile route beside a statue of a walker with sore feet; many finishers then crown the trip by climbing Ben Nevis, Britain's highest mountain, whose foot the last stage passes.

The GR 20, often described as Europe's toughest long-distance trek, runs the length of which Mediterranean island?

Corsica's GR 20 follows the island's mountain spine from Calenzana to Conca, about 180 km; the granite is rough enough that walkers scramble hands-on over slabs and ridges, and most need about a fortnight.

New Zealand's 3,000 km Te Araroa runs from Cape Reinga in the north to which southern town?

Bluff, at the foot of the South Island, ends the trail at the Stirling Point signpost; further north one section is a river, the Whanganui, which has to be paddled rather than walked.

McKinnon Pass, named for the guide who found it in 1888, is the highest point of which New Zealand Great Walk?

Milford Track: Quintin McKinnon found the pass in 1888 and became the first guide to lead walkers over it to Milford Sound; a scone he cooked, the pompolona, still names one of the track's lodges.

Alfred Wainwright offered anyone completing the Pennine Way in one go what at the Border Hotel?

A free pint was Wainwright's promise in his Pennine Way Companion, paid from his own pocket; so many walkers claimed it that he cut the reward to a half in 1979, and it still cost him an estimated £15,000.

Which travel writer's 1998 book A Walk in the Woods recounts his attempt to hike the Appalachian Trail?

Bill Bryson set out with an old friend he calls Stephen Katz and ended up walking only about 40 per cent of the trail; his comic account still became a 2015 film starring Robert Redford.

Which fastener, common on outdoor gear, was inspired by burrs that stuck to a Swiss engineer's dog in the Alps?

Velcro was conceived in 1941 by George de Mestral, who took a close look at the burdock burrs clinging to his clothes after a hunting trip.

Which sacred sandstone monolith in central Australia has been closed to climbers since October 2019?

Uluru's climb closed for good on 26 October 2019, when the chains that had guided walkers up the rock on Aṉangu land were taken down.

Thousands of steps lead pilgrims to a footprint-shaped hollow near the top of Adam's Peak in which island country?

Sri Lanka's Adam's Peak is sacred to several faiths: Buddhists see the footprint as the Buddha's, while other traditions credit Shiva or Adam.

German teacher Richard Schirrmann opened the world's first of which kind of lodging for hikers in a castle in 1912?

The first youth hostel opened in Altena Castle on 1 June 1912, three years after a stormy school camping trip gave Schirrmann the idea.

Which waterproof, breathable membrane used in hiking jackets was created in 1969 by stretching heated rods of PTFE?

Gore-Tex blocks liquid water but lets vapour escape, and in 1976 Marmot became one of the first brands to adopt it, in a waterproof sleeping bag.

Appalachian Trail thru-hikers mark the halfway point at Pine Grove Furnace by trying to eat a half gallon of what?

Ice cream by the half gallon is the challenge at the park's general store, and hikers who finish the tub are handed a commemorative wooden spoon.

Hikers haul themselves up the final 400 feet of which granite summit between two steel cables, taken down each winter?

Half Dome's cables were first strung in 1919, and crowding on them led to a permit system in 2010.

The Yoshida route, lined with old shrines, teahouses and huts, is the most popular way up which volcano?

Mount Fuji has four main routes from its fifth stations, and Yoshida is the busiest even though its starting point is only the second highest.

Pilgrims walking the Camino across northern Spain finish at a cathedral said to hold the remains of which apostle?

Saint James is Santiago in Spanish, and legend says his body was carried by boat from Jerusalem to Galicia for burial.

Which Japanese practice of unhurried time among trees, named in 1982, is known in English as forest bathing?

Shinrin-yoku joins the Japanese words for forest and bath, and was coined by Tomohide Akiyama, a director at Japan's forestry ministry.

Britain's Three Peaks Challenge combines Scafell Pike and Snowdon with which Scottish mountain, all inside 24 hours?

Ben Nevis is the highest mountain in the British Isles, and many teams climb it first so the night can be spent driving south to Scafell Pike.

Alfred Wainwright's seven pen-and-ink Pictorial Guides describe 214 fells in which English national park?

Lake District walkers now call those 214 summits the Wainwrights, and the guides have sold more than two million copies.

On the topographic maps hikers carry, contour lines drawn very close together show what kind of ground?

A steep slope packs the lines together because each line marks a set step in height, so widely spaced lines mean a gentle gradient.

Which Hollywood star spent a decade developing the 2015 hiking film A Walk in the Woods before playing its lead?

Robert Redford wanted Paul Newman as his co-star and shelved the film after Newman's death, before casting Nick Nolte instead.

The Overland Track runs 65 km from Cradle Mountain to Lake St Clair through the wilderness of which Australian state?

Tasmania limits walker numbers in the warmer months on the track, which more than nine thousand people complete each year.

The Laugavegur trail runs from the hot springs of Landmannalaugar to the glacial valley of Þórsmörk in which country?

Iceland counts Laugavegur as its most popular trail, and in 2012 National Geographic listed it among the twenty best in the world.

What do American hikers call a trail's sharp zigzag turns, a name borrowed from a type of railway?

Switchbacks trade distance for a gentler climb, and on some footpaths builders put in stairways instead.

Which English Romantic poet, an early champion of walking for pleasure, toured the Alps on foot in 1790?

William Wordsworth described the 1790 tour in his autobiographical poem The Prelude, and a later walk through the Wye Valley inspired Tintern Abbey.

The Bright Angel Trail drops about 4,400 feet from the South Rim to a river in which US national park?

Grand Canyon hikers and mule trains share the trail, which with the River Trail is the most common way down to Phantom Ranch.

A mule track hung with prayer flags climbs to the cliffside Tiger's Nest monastery in which Himalayan country?

Bhutan treats the Tiger's Nest as a national icon, and legend says Guru Padmasambhava was carried to the cliff on the back of a tigress.

Which New England writer gave his lecture 'Walking' ten times before it ran in the Atlantic Monthly in 1862?

Henry David Thoreau never saw the essay in print, because the magazine ran it after his death that year.

The 11-mile Kalalau Trail runs along the Nā Pali Coast on the north shore of which Hawaiian island?

Kauai firefighters had to rescue 121 hikers from the trail over two days in 2014, after heavy rain made its streams impassable.

The Sentiero Azzurro, or Blue Trail, links villages such as Vernazza and Manarola along which stretch of Italian coast?

Cinque Terre's five villages are so hard to reach by car that paths, trains and boats do the connecting.

Which 84-mile National Trail crosses northern England from Wallsend beside the remains of a Roman frontier?

Hadrian's Wall Path opened in 2003 and stays close to the Roman defences for most of its length, ending on the west coast at Bowness-on-Solway.

Mountain routes fitted with steel cables and rungs, some built in the Dolomites in wartime, go by which Italian name?

Via ferrata means iron path, and several were built during the First World War to help troops move through the mountains.

Scottish mountains over 3,000 feet take which name from the baronet who first listed them in 1891?

Munros honour Sir Hugh Munro, a founding member of the Scottish Mountaineering Club, who compiled his tables from maps and his own climbs.

The Lycian Way, a long-distance trail opened in 1999, follows part of the Mediterranean coast of which country?

Turkey owes the trail to Kate Clow, a British expatriate who conceived the route and wrote its guidebook.

The 93-mile Wonderland Trail makes a full circuit of which peak, climbing a cumulative 22,000 feet along the way?

Mount Rainier shows walkers a different face as the loop circles it, and the trail's shelters were built by the Civilian Conservation Corps from 1934.

Which Zion National Park trail, carved out in 1926, ends along a narrow ridge where hikers grip chains?

Angels Landing grew so crowded that since 2022 anyone tackling the final chained section has needed a permit.

A three-mile round-trip hike in Arches National Park leads to which landmark, pictured on Utah licence plates?

Delicate Arch stands 52 feet tall, and local cowboys once nicknamed it the Chaps because of its distinctive shape.

Naismith's rule, devised by a Scottish mountaineer in 1892, helps hikers estimate what?

How long a route takes is worked out by allowing one hour for every three miles, plus another hour for each 2,000 feet of ascent.

Almost every Appalachian Trail thru-hiker stops for a ritual photograph at the Conservancy headquarters in which town?

Harpers Ferry is the trail's psychological halfway point, a little south of the true midpoint, so a picture at the office there became a standard custom.

The Appalachian Trail's highest point, Kuwohi in the Great Smoky Mountains, carried which name until 2024?

Clingmans Dome was named in 1859 for Thomas Clingman, later a Confederate general; Kuwohi, Cherokee for mulberry place, was restored with the Eastern Band's backing.

Pacific Crest Trail hikers cross the Columbia River at Cascade Locks on which steel toll span, opened in 1926?

Bridge of the Gods takes its name from a natural land bridge, left when a huge landslide dammed the Columbia River centuries ago.

Which Vermont footpath, built by the Green Mountain Club from 1910, served as the inspiration for the Appalachian route?

The Long Trail is the oldest long-distance trail in the United States, and it follows the main ridge of the Green Mountains for the length of the state.

The Haute Route, walked or skied over about 180 km, links Chamonix beneath Mont Blanc with which Matterhorn resort?

Zermatt is the finish of a route first charted by members of the English Alpine Club in the mid-19th century, and walkers need around 12 days for it.

Walkers staged a famous mass trespass in 1932 to demand open access to which hill in England's Peak District?

Kinder Scout became a rallying point after some of the trespassers were jailed, and the outrage built public support for open access land.

The W route and the longer O circuit are the classic multi-day treks of which Patagonian national park?

Torres del Paine's full circuit around the Paine massif was pioneered in 1976 by British mountaineer John Garner and two of the park's rangers.

Which Italian brand launched the first rubber lug soles in 1937, after six of its founder's friends died in the Alps?

Vibram blends the name of founder Vitale Bramani, who patented his Carrarmato tread after the 1935 deaths were partly blamed on inadequate footwear.

One of New Zealand's most popular day hikes, the Alpine Crossing, passes the Emerald Lakes in which national park?

Tongariro's famous track climbs to a saddle, then dips in and out of two craters before skirting the edge of the Blue Lake.

Preikestolen, a cliff with an almost flat top 604 metres above Norway's Lysefjord, goes by which English name?

Pulpit Rock became so popular that its main path was improved in 2013 by Nepalese Sherpas.

Hikers using a map and compass must correct for which angle between magnetic north and true north?

Declination varies from place to place and over the years, and by convention it is positive when magnetic north lies east of true north.

On America's thru-hiking routes, which phrase describes unexpected gifts and help from strangers, often anonymous?

Trail magic is most often met near the towns along the Appalachian route, in the form of kind acts, gifts and encouragement.

Which hobby has hikers working through a published list of summits, such as the 100 Famous Japanese Mountains?

Peak bagging lists include Colorado's Fourteeners and the Seven Summits, though many climbers use the term as a put-down.

Which activity sits between hiking and climbing, with walkers using their hands for holds and balance?

Scrambling ends the moment a rope comes out, yet unroped ascents in exposed places rank among the most dangerous things mountaineers do.

Hikers and runners on routes such as the John Muir Trail use the abbreviation FKT, which stands for what?

Fastest known time was coined in 2000 by Pete Bakwin and Buzz Burrell, whose website tracks the self-organised records.

Which 33-mile route from Dyea, Alaska, over the Coast Mountains carried stampeders towards the Klondike goldfields?

The Chilkoot Trail fell out of use in 1899, when a railway was built from neighbouring Skagway along a parallel route.

Trekkers on Nepal's Annapurna Circuit reach the route's highest point at which 5,416-metre pass?

Thorong La links the green Manang valley with a far drier western side, where almost nothing grows without irrigation.

Which writer's 1968 guide The Complete Walker made him a kind of spiritual godfather to wilderness backpackers?

Colin Fletcher's guide went through four editions and was dubbed the Hiker's Bible by Field & Stream magazine.

The Kokoda Track, fought over by Japanese and Australian troops in 1942, crosses which country's Owen Stanley Range?

Papua New Guinea's 96 km track is walked single file, and in 2006 it was placed on the country's tentative World Heritage list.