Hiking Quotes: 116 Quotes to Inspire Your Next Outdoor Adventure

Hiking quotes can be nice to read as you plan your upcoming trekking adventure, or you daydream back to expeditions past. They seemingly transport you to the rugged mountain wilderness. 

Hiking quotes help you envisage mornings waking up in cosy country cabins, cradling a steaming hot cup of coffee, and breathing in the crisp mountain air. They ignite the excitement of ambling along a well-trodden woodland trail, stepping on crunchy autumn leaves, and looking out to the path ahead, unsure of what is around the corner. 

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    The hiking quotes detailed here come from an array of notable Authors, Expeditioners, and public figures. They also make nice captions for your photos of west coast national parks on social media, or as handwritten inspirational captions in your photo albums and scrapbooks. 

    Best Hiking Quotes

    Hiking quotes
    Hiking quotes

    Because in the end, you won’t remember the time you spent working in the office or mowing your lawn. Climb that goddamn mountain.

    Jack Kerouac

    Hiking and happiness go hand in hand or foot in boot

    Diane Spicer

    To walk in nature is to witness a thousand miracles

    Mary Davies

    The world reveals itself to those who travel on foot

    Werner Herzog

    Walking is the exact balance between spirit and humility

    Gary Snyder

    All truly great thoughts are conceived by walking

    Friedrich Nietzsche

    After a day’s walk, everything has twice its usual value

    G.M. Trevelyan

    Walking: the most ancient exercise and still the best modern exercise

    Carrie Latet

    The best remedy for a short temper is a long walk

    Jacqueline Schiff

    There is no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing

    Sir Ranulph Fiennes

    But the beauty is in the walking — we are betrayed by destinations

    Gwyn Thomas

    Jobs fill your pockets but adventures fill your soul

    Jamie Lyn Beatty

    Hiking isnt for everyone. Notice that the wilderness is mostly empty

    Sonja Yoerg

    Hiking is not escapism; it’s realism. The people who choose to spend time outdoors are not running away from anything; we are returning to where we belong.”

    Jennifer Pharr Davis

    Carry as little as possible, but choose that little with care

    Earl Shaffer

    Hiking is a bit like life: The journey only requires you to put one foot in front of the other… again and again and again

    Unknown

    If you allow yourself the opportunity to be present for the entirety of the trek, you will experience beauty every step of the way, not just at the summit

    Unknown

    More Hiking Quotes

    Best Hiking Quotes
    Best Hiking Quotes

    In every walk with nature, one receives more than he seeks

    John Muir

    Trails are like that: you’re floating along in a Shakespearean Arden paradise and expect to see nymphs and flute boys, then suddenly you’re struggling in a hot broiling sun of hell in dust and nettles and poison oak…just like life.

    Jack Kerouac

    We dont stop hiking because we grow old, we grow old because we stop hiking

    Finis Mitchell

    In all things of nature, there is something of the marvelous

    Aristotle, Greek Philosopher

    I slow down when hiking. The rhythm of nature is more leisurely. The sun comes up, it moves across the sky, and you begin to synchronize to that rhythm

    John Mackey

    Of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt

    John Muir

    When everything feels like an uphill struggle, just think of the view from the top

    Unknown

    The long distance hiker, a breed set apart, from the likes of the usual pack. He will shoulder his gear, be hittin the trail; long gone, long fore he will be back

    MJ Eberhart

    Turn off everything once a week, including your brain, and walk somewhere quiet

    Unknown

    Another glorious day, the air as delicious to the lungs as nectar to the tongue

    John Muir

    There are no shortcuts to any place worth going

    Beverly Sills

    Hiking side effects include sweating, euphoria, and general awesomeness

    Unknown

    Never follow someone else’s path unless you’re in the woods and you’re lost, and you see a path. By all means, you should follow that

    Ellen DeGeneres

    These woods are lovely, dark and deep. But I have promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep

    Robert Frost

    The longest journey begins with a single step

    Pantanjali

    Hiking alone lets me have some time to myself

    Jamie Luner

    And into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul.

    John Muir

    Hiking Quotes About the Mountains

    Best hiking quotes
    Best hiking quotes

    It is not the mountain that we conquer, but ourselves

    Sir Edmund Hillary

    I like being near the top of a mountain. One cant get lost here

    Wislawa Szymborska

    You cannot climb a mountain with downhill thoughts

    Unknown

    The view up here is breathtaking, and I know its all downhill from here

    Unknown

    Climb the mountain so you can see the world, not so the world can see you

    William Blake

    Every mountain top is within reach if you just keep climbing

    Barry Finlay

    The higher you climb on the mountain, the harder the wind blows

    Sam Cummings

    I go to nature to be soothed and healed and to have my sense put in order

    John Burroughs

    Youre off to great places. Today is your day. Your mountain is waiting, so get on your way.

    Dr Seuss

    Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.

    Helen Keller

    Nature is not a place to visit. It is home

    Gary Snyder

    Somewhere between the bottom of the climb and the summit is the answer to the mystery why we climb.

    Greg Child

    General Quotes About Hiking and Travel

    Best Quotes about Hiking
    Best Quotes about Hiking

    Its not where you go, its who you go with

    Unknown

    Not all those who wander are lost

    JRR Tolkien

    No television show, no movie, no book even, can impact your soul like a perfect moment in nature

    Rev Kane

    In America, alas, beauty has become something you drive to, and nature an either/or proposition–either you ruthlessly subjugate it, as at Tocks Dam and a million other places, or you deify it, treat it as something holy and remote, a thing apart, as along the Appalachian Trail.

    Bill Bryson

    When we walk into a grove of trees or under an open sky the magic of nature takes over and the heaviness of life lifts a little

    Natassia Cassinero

    There was nowhere to go but everywhere

    Jack Kerouac

    Between every two pines there is a doorway to a new world

    John Muir

    I took a walk in the woods and came out taller than trees

    Henry David Thoreau

    You need special shoes for hiking—and a bit of a special soul as well.

    Terri Guillemets

    A path is a prior interpretation of the best way to traverse a landscape

    Rebecca Solnit

    Walking is man’s best medicine

    Hipocrates

    Walking gets the feet moving, the blood moving, the mind moving. And movement is life

    Terri Guillemets

    You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.

    J.R.R.Tolkien

    Nature is one of the most underutilized treasures in life. It has the power to unburden hearts and reconnect to that inner place of peace

    Dr. Janice Anderson & Kiersten Anderson

    Deep down, at the molecular heart of life, the trees and we are essentially identical

    Carl Sagan

    Walking Quotes

    You don’t have to set off right into the wilderness to go hiking. You can also enjoy urban hikes through cities or short, beautiful trails through your local National Park or nature reserve.

    Everywhere is within walking distance if you have the time

    Steven Wright

    I love walking in the woods, along the trails, by the beaches. I love being part of nature and I love walking alone. It is therapy. One needs to be alone, to recharge one’s batteries

    Grace Kelly

    I love walking because it clears your mind, enriches the soul, takes away stress, and opens up your eyes to a whole new world

    Claudette Dudley

    To be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter… these are some of the rewards of the simple life

    John Burroughs

    An early-morning walk is a blessing for the whole day.

    Henry David Thoreau

    If you are in a bad mood, go for a walk. If you are still in a bad mood, go for another walk

    Hippocrates

    Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit, and as vital to our lives as water and good bread

    Edward Abbey

    I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived

    Henry David Thoreau

    Getting to the top is optional. Getting down is mandatory

    Ed Viesturs

    Never measure the height of a mountain until you reach the top. Then you will see how low it was

    Dag Hammarskjold

    I’ve realized that at the top of the mountain, there’s another mountain

    Andrew Garfield

    Witty Hiking Quotes

    To hike is to complain

    Dean Johnston

    I have two doctors, my left leg and my right

    G.M. Trevelyan

    Fact: Hiking is actually just walking, only on dirt or rocks or other uneven surfaces

    Brendon Leonard, Semi-Rad

    Woods are not like other spaces. To begin with, they are cubic. Their trees surround you, loom over you, press in from all sides. Woods choke off views & leave you muddled & without bearings. They make you feel small & confused & vulnerable, like a small child lost in a crowd of strange legs.

    Bill Bryson

    Hiking is just walking where its ok to pee

    Demetri Martin

    Always hike with someone in worse shape than you. The bears out there will know

    Anon

    My grandmother started walking five miles a day when she was sixty. She’s ninety-seven now, and we don’t know where the heck she is

    Ellen DeGeneres

    The closer you are to nature, the further you are from idiots

    Anon

    I have a therapist. Her name is hiking

    Unknown

    It is all fun and games until you hear a twig snap behind you

    Unknown

    Hiking is the only slightly less ugly stepsister of running

    Linda Hughes

    Sleeping bags are the soft tacos of the bear world

    Unknown

    Black bears rarely attack. But here’s the thing. Sometimes they do. All bears are agile, cunning and immensely strong, and they are always hungry. If they want to kill you and eat you, they can, and pretty much whenever they want. That doesn’t happen often, but – and here is the absolutely salient point – once would be enough

    Bill Bryson

    Distance changes utterly when you take the world on foot. A mile becomes a long way, two miles literally considerable, ten miles whopping, fifty miles at the very limits of conception. The world, you realize, is enormous in a way that only you and a small community of fellow hikers know. Planetary scale is your little secret.

    Bill Bryson

    Until you walk a mile in another man’s moccasin, you can’t imagine the smell

    Robert Byrne

    Long Distance Hiking Quotes

    The Appalachian Trail, the Camino de Santiago, the PCT, the Corfu Trail. Conquering a long-distance, multi-day hike is a different kettle of fish entirely.

    Long-distance hikes can be as mentally challenging as they are physically. They also require an additional level of endurance, expert planning, and preparation. The hiking quotes in this section are dedicated to those in it for the long haul.

    Returning home is the most difficult part of long-distance hiking. You have grown outside the puzzle and your piece no longer fits

    Cindy Ross

    All that is required of you is a willingness to trudge. There is no point in hurrying because you are not actually going anywhere. However far or long you trod you are always in the same place – in the woods. It’s where you were yesterday, where you will be tomorrow.

    Bill Bryson

    For hiking is one of those things that you can only do when you have the determination in you

    Unknown

    The trail leads not merely north and south, but to the body, mind and soul of a man

    Harold Allen

    Believe you can and youre halfway there

    Teddy Roosevelt

    The most difficult thing is the decision to act. The rest is merely tenacity

    Amelia Earhart

    No pain, no rain, no Maine

    Appalachian Trail Saying

    The only thing more difficult than adjusting to life in the woods is adjusting to life indoors

    Anon

    There is a phenomenon called Trail Magic, known and spoken of with reverence by everyone who hikes the trail, which holds that often when things look darkest some little piece of serendipity comes along to put you back on a heavenly plane.

    Bill Bryson

    Hiking Captions

    Sometimes, you want something light-hearted, short, and cute to accompany your social media posts. The hiking captions in this section have you covered!

    • The mountains are calling and I must go

    • When life gives you mountains, put on your boots and hike

    • Head for the hills!

    • Hike more, worry less

    • Take a hike

    • Never stop exploring

    • Wander where the wifi is weak

    • Two’s a company, trees a crowd

    • Pack lighter and go further

    • I’d rather be hiking in the rain, than sitting inside at a desk on a sunny day

    • The mountains are calling and I must go

    • Life is better in hiking boots

    • Hiking? Bring a compass. Its awkward when you have to eat your friends

    • Kicking it in the woods with my birches

    • Hiking is the answer. Who cares what the question is

    • I know I hike like a girl. Try to keep up

    • That hike was unbe-leaf-able!

    • Dear mountains, I think about you all the time

    • All good things are wild and free

    Parting Words

    Do you have any more hiking quotes that you would like to share? Perhaps you would also like these climbing quotes or this guide to hiking alone as a woman.

    Safe travels and happy trails! Alice xo


    Alice

    Hey! My name is Alice and I am a Travel Writer based in Athens, Greece. I have over seven years of experience working in travel media and during that time I have produced content for numerous high-profile publications including Forbes Travel Guide, The Huffington Post, Matador Network, and The Times of Israel. I came to Athens on vacation in 2017, fell in love with the city, and never left! I created this site to help you explore Athens and wider Greece like a local and experience all of the things that most tourists miss.

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