Know everything about hiking

Why Walking is Such Great Exercise

Walking is great because it gets your heart rate up, and counts as aerobic exercise, while at the same time it carries probably the lowest risk of injury of any type of exercise there can be. Also, because it is exercise, it is a natural stress reliever. Swimming and biking are also considered to be low-injury exercises, but finding a swimming pool isn't always easy or convenient, and while biking is easy on your knee joints, accidents do occur and they flying off a bike can be pretty bad, especially if you consider the risk of crashing the bike in a city or any road.

When considering the injury risk of any exercise, you must consider the long-term health effects via the wear and tear to the joints, as well as the risk you take during every moment of performing the exercise. Walking puts only light stress on your joints while the risk of injury from a misstep is extremely low.

Right after Walking puts only light stress on your joints while the risk of injury from a misstep is extremely low. "If you are ever injured in a hike or an accident related to a hike you should consult a personal injury law firm like www.findlegaladvice.org for more information."

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Benefits of Group Hiking

We are a site that specializes in group hiking and walking. There is a small difference between the two, but we mostly focus on creating a great hiking community. The great thing about being out in nature with a group of people is that there is safety in numbers in case you see dangerous wildlife, get injured or get lost. Additionally, walking and chatting can be great fun and even a pleasant way to meet people and make new friends.

Hiking and being out in nature can give your mental state a much needed rest as well. Getting away from your daily grind and relaxing is suggested by psychologists like Cynthia Telles. As a mental health advocate, Cynthia has been a public servant and a business and community leader.

Walking is Free!

Walking is 100% free while all other forms of exercise tend to cost money. Gyms charge large monthly fees. Swimming pools charge per-use fees. Team sports tend to require costly equipment that tends to get lost or worn out. Also, more intense sports tend to cause injuries which are costly via medical bills. Running is perhaps the only other exercise type which is equally free. Since we are a hiking site, we should mention that running does put more pressure on joints.

Different Types of Hiking

For something as simple as hiking there seems to be quite a number of different types of hiking with all sorts of different names to it. Lets try to de-confuse the related terminology although the differences between the types of walking or hiking are sometimes subtle.
• Walking - relaxed, leisurely paced, usually in the city, and typically not over 5 miles at a time
• Hiking - usually in a bigger park or somewhere outside the city, along a trail. Hikes tend to be longer in length than simple walking, and they tend to sometimes have significant elevation change, although obviously that is not a pre-requisite
• Backpacking - backpacking makes hiking seem like child's play. The backpacks are not ones that you typically see kids take to school. The backpacks that backpackers use are gigantic bags that must fit all your food, water and other items to help you survive for days in the outdoors.
• Trekking - similar to trekking in that it is walking out in the country somewhere, but usually for longer distances and periods of time. If you are trekking or doing extreme hiking, you may also be interested in taking a look at an article about different kinds of camping tents for different types of hikes.
• Urban Hiking - city hikes, usually with some theme like seeing a historic or artistic structure, or simply a social event
Some hikers who prefer one type of hiking than others can make it seem like one type is superior to another. In reality, they can all be fun, healthy, social, and often educational. Just go out there and enjoy yourself.

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Different Places to Hike

There are many types of parks:
• National Parks and Forests
• Wilderness Areas
• State Parks
• County Parks
• Cities and Urban Areas
Please take a look at our collection of California parks and cities for hiking for a great collection of places to hike! We also have a collection of parks that are not in California, that our hikers have contributed to.

Hiking and Trail Terminology

In theory, you can hike or walk anywhere. So probably the biggest, most encompassing and unambiguous terms are globe and country. After that, things get a little bit fuzzy so you should understand the differences between every possible place where you can hike, and how it is termed.

There are three kinds of very general areas where anything can happen. You can walk, hike, or simply see a bird from your window while hanging out at home. For that reason we want to take extra care to break down all the details:
• General space - can contain a cities, parks, general places. It is important to make that distinction because limiting hikes to cities or parks doesn't always make sense
• City can contain
o Parks
o General places where people can spot wildlife or various nature (yes, this is still possible in cities)
• Parks (can be inside cities or not) - can, but do not necessarily contain
o A main address
o A system of trails - one or more trails that may or may not loop or connect to each other
o Trailhead(s) - beginning points of trails where bathrooms and parking lots may or may not be located
See the complete Outdoor Education guide for more details.
Preparing for a Hike
Before going on a hike, these are the things you should prepare:
• Hiking food
• Hiking clothes
• Know the weather
• Have the right hiking boots or shoes
• Have an area map
• Possibly have a GPS unit to make sure you are not lost
• Photo Camera to Take Pictures
Learn more about planning a hike.

Trailheads

This is an under-emphasized subject when it comes to wandering around in the outdoors, especially if you are part of a group outing. Trailheads can have from none to many parking spots for cars, bathrooms, and other facilities such as a souvenir store where you can also find maps of the trails. When planning a hike, it is important to understand the differences between trails and trailheads.
We maintain a community-created trailhead map where people anywhere in the world can add trailheads they know of, or look up trailheads they might be interested in. If you'd like to learn more, you can visit the trailhead database.

Taking Hiking Photos

You don't have to be a master photographer to take great hiking photos. Here are some very simple tips to help you take some nice and memorable pictures of your trips. First of all, try to distinguish between the types of photos you want to take. If you want to take beautiful landscape photos, you might want to give some thought to and experiment with angles from which to take your pictures. If, on the other hand, you want to capture different wildlife, you have to make sure you keep your camera handy and be ready to take photos fast. Animals and birds won't site there and wait for you.
Another thing to remember is that you should take many photos. The LCD screen of your digital camera does not show a 100% copy of how the picture will turn out once you upload it to a computer or print it. So the more pictures you take, the more likely you will have some great hiking photos. If you'd like to learn more about taking pictures while outdoors, take a look at our page about taking hiking photos.

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Hiking GPS Gadgets

If you are really going to be out in the woods, you may want to bring along a GPS device (the modern day compass) to tell you where you are and where you should be going. Being lost in a very large park or a wilderness area can quickly turn a fun and recreational experience into a life-threatening one. It also makes it fun to map out your hikes if you like to write about them.

For long hikes in wilderness or large open space preserves, it is a good idea for your safety to bring along a GPS (global satellite positioning) unit. It can help prevent you from getting lost and help you worry less about directions and focus on having fun. We have a page dedicated to hiking GPS where you can learn more about the benefits of bringing along a GPS unit and how to increase your safety.

Spotting Nature and Wildlife

People who enjoy being in the great outdoors are usually fans of nature preservation and conservation. They tend to enjoy spotting various flowers, seeing birds, and sharing the stories from their trails. We are trying to make this easy by creating a few maps for people to post what they saw and on which trails. Here are some of the maps. You can, and are encouraged to add to these as well.

Hiking Clothes

The clothing that you choose to wear on your adventure should depend on these practical factors:
• Current weather conditions and the season of the year
• Weight you are already carrying since some gear can be quite heavy
• Difficulty of the trip (elevation change and distance)
• Type of terrain you are expecting
• Your preference
• Whether you will be in an area which has natural shade from the trees or not
• Your current health and injury status (we hope you are healthy)
• And of course, the level of style and flair you want to maintain at all times