A (Short) History of Hiking

Oh, and this post is about American hiking history. Though much of the rest of the world has a similar hiking history (or are currently going through it), my links and resources focused on the American version of the past time.

 

Ancient History

Obviously, the first definition applies to our beloved activity the most (unless you suffer from ill-fitting boxer-briefs). Given that definition, we can say that the history of hiking starts with the movement of people from one place to another.

In the before time, in the long, long ago, in order to get anywhere, mankind had to walk. Even with the use of horses, carts, and other conveyances…dudes walked. Sure, domestication gave them animals to move stuff, but the harsh reality is that not everyone was rich enough to use them. Most times those precious animals were used for hauling heavy loads, not heavy human asses. Horses have to be broken for human riders- breaking a horse for pulling a cart is a more logical use of time and resources.

So ride on the cart, right?

Some times, yes. Most times, no. Why add another 150 pounds of man-flesh to a load when you can add 150 pounds of wheat to the load? Humans have legs, wheat does not.

 

We’ve been doing this upright walking thing for a long time now, mostly through necessity. One could say that our definition of hiking was people walking to and from the fields and markets, walking to and from battle, and embarking on religious pilgrimages, but this isn’t quite true.

 

Not yet, anyway.

 

Let’s consider:

• Field/Market: Extend this to the factories, across town, getting water, washing clothes at the river, whatever. Anyway you slice this, it’s not hiking, it’s work. The reason for going to and from these places is survival. The closest we can get to hiking is going to the pub, but even then most folks didn’t walk a dozen miles for a drink- they lived near the pubs or drank at home.
• Battle: The vast majority of troops throughout history have moved on their feet. There were some units that didn’t walk all the time (cavalry, Native American horse soldiers, Mongolians, et cetera), but most of them were walkers. This included units like artillery. We see this well past the American Civil War into modern warfare. What these troops were doing was marching not hiking.
  
• Pilgrimages: While close, still not on the mark. The point of religious pilgrimages are to reach a site of religious importance. Many times these were long, arduous processes to show devotion. There is still something missing. (Side note: I consider hiking a form of pilgrimage.)

While there are examples throughout history of folks just going out for a hike, this was an activity that was closed to the vast majority of humanity. For the most part- especially in America- hiking was an activity enjoyed almost exclusively by rich people and starry-eyed poets.

Industrial Revolution

In the late 19th century something happened with all this load-moving while people walked: industrialization. One could argue that if humanity decided to haul themselves instead of their work, industrialization would be stunted. We probably would not have come as far and as fast as we did.

Anyway, society advanced, industry flourished. People moved to the industries, got more done in less time. And, with more time to spare between work, there was a rise in luxury. People had time to do more than work and drink.

Since we had a lot of folks move into cities, the logical choice for escape would be to return to the wilds. But what to do when they got there? Go for a walk, of course!

Note, however, we’re not quite ready to close the book on the history of hiking. To just leave and get away required time and money. The average Joe couldn’t just get up and go for a walk- they had to work to survive. Getting into the wilds also required a way of getting there. While poor farmers out in the middle of nowhere had no trouble walking their land in their “free” time (usually hunting), the poor folks stuck inside the cities couldn’t do that.

To make matters worse, the industrial revolution saw a huge increase in city populations. Folks moved out of the country and immigrants flocked to the cities to get these jobs. That required a lot of housing closely huddled together. It was unsanitary to say the least, and health began to suffer which, in turn, affected industry. This spurred on reform.

In 1850, NYC opened Central Park, an area of fresh air and exercise for everyone. Following that success, cities embraced the urban parks movement and began opening their own parks. People could actually go out and take a walk!