National Hike Day

[Tvtyrant]

Today was Take a hike day in the USA. I chaffed big holes in the skin of my heels Monday so I did 10 miles of Portland Forest Park instead of my planned hike up Elk Mountain.

Anyone else take a hike today?

[Knaight]

Today? Really? The people involved in making this did know the U.S. is in the northern hemisphere, right? I'll grant that the standard hike probably isn't 10,000+ feet nation wide, but there are multiple mountain ranges, which tend to be surrounded by an unusually high number of avid hikers.

I've done a fair amount of summer hiking, but the mountain trails aren't even open right now for the most part, there's probably 3 feet of snow on most of them.

[John Campbell]

I hiked from my car to the grocery store and back. Since it was 30°F and snowing sideways, that seemed quite enough.

[Algeh]

I'm still in the long, slow process of breaking in a new pair of boots, so no hike for me. (So far, I've managed to go slowly enough to not need to duct tape over giant heel blisters, which happened the last two times I broke in hiking boots, so I think not immediately walking in them for hours is the better method - I still have an angry spot on my left foot, though. (Since I have bought the same boots three times now, I can confirm that you have to break in the boots rather than train your feet to accept the boots, if anyone was curious.))

Instead, I celebrated "do laundry, eat burritos, and drink beer" day, which is more of a local event. It was a nice day for a hike, though.

[Tvtyrant]

Today? Really? The people involved in making this did know the U.S. is in the northern hemisphere, right? I'll grant that the standard hike probably isn't 10,000+ feet nation wide, but there are multiple mountain ranges, which tend to be surrounded by an unusually high number of avid hikers.

I've done a fair amount of summer hiking, but the mountain trails aren't even open right now for the most part, there's probably 3 feet of snow on most of them.

I don't get it either. Hike day should probably be in June or September honestly.

I had perfect weather though. 54 and sunny, the whole forest floor covered in gold and red leaves.

[Honest Tiefling]

According to the American Hiking Society, June has National Trail Day.

Then again, as a resident of the Northren hemisphere I'd prefer to take a hike in November due to the heat and sun. Maybe the people in Maryland (where the American Hiking Society is, and apparently the people behind this?) thought to cover as many people as possible.

That, or they are THAT sort of people who regard several feet of snow as an adventure and don't get why people don't want to hike in it! C'mon, it'll be fun. You won't feel the cold after ten minutes anyway! The views are great!

[Knaight]

That, or they are THAT sort of people who regard several feet of snow as an adventure and don't get why people don't want to hike in it! C'mon, it'll be fun. You won't feel the cold after ten minutes anyway! The views are great!

The cold is easily handled - it's the combination of thick snow and steep trails where it really goes off the rails. But I suppose large sections of the country don't even have nearby mountains (which sounds terrible), and that the word "hike" there gets used for what would be known as a "walk" in Colorado.

[Honest Tiefling]

The cold is easily handled - it's the combination of thick snow and steep trails where it really goes off the rails. But I suppose large sections of the country don't even have nearby mountains (which sounds terrible), and that the word "hike" there gets used for what would be known as a "walk" in Colorado.

I'm going to have to trust you, since I think it's been about a decade since I've seen snow and even that was puny.

Personally, I thought the word hike could also mean a very long walk in say, a state or national park. Muir Woods isn't exactly mountainous, but I wouldn't ask if anyone wanted to take a walk in it.

[Tvtyrant]

The cold is easily handled - it's the combination of thick snow and steep trails where it really goes off the rails. But I suppose large sections of the country don't even have nearby mountains (which sounds terrible), and that the word "hike" there gets used for what would be known as a "walk" in Colorado.
The term "hike" gets used in a very flexible manner. For instance in Oregon nearly everyone puts "likes hiking" in their dating profiles (or mentions not liking to hike specifically,) but in my experience the vadt majority mean 3 mile nature walk going at a stroll.

So for instance I went on a hike date this summer where we had radically different assumptions of what hike meant, we got about a mile before she started to complain about the pace and not taking breaks (I slowed down and we took more breaks than walking) and after four she started to ask how far we were from the car (4 miles.)

This was a very flat, easy hike as well. Now I ask specifically what hikes people have gone on recently. Often is turns out they meant going around a park a few times.

Hike is a very loose word and the speakers need to agree on definition before starting.

[Knaight]

Personally, I thought the word hike could also mean a very long walk in say, a state or national park. Muir Woods isn't exactly mountainous, but I wouldn't ask if anyone wanted to take a walk in it.

It's possible that I'm just a hike snob from a hike snob culture up in the mountains, and that I'm playing it up a little for comedy. As for parks, the notable one here would be Rocky Mountain National Park, which has a lot of hikes, but is particularly notable for Long's peak, affectionately called "a 14er" locally. I'm not sure how far that term goes, but it applies to any mountain over 14,000', and this particular trail involves a 6,000' climb.