Recreational Long-Distance Walking: Here to Stay or Passing Fancy
Over the years the PCT Trailside Reader website has posted profiles of prolific walkers of the past . . . epic long-distance walkers like Basho, William Wordsworth, and Werner Herzog. But, really, it has only been in the past several decades than recreational long-distance walking has gained popularity. No longer the realm of the eccentric, the emigrant, the spiritual seeker, and the zealot, long distance walking has become mainstream. But, is this a passing fancy, a cultural fad in our notoriously fickle culture?
While there has been long-distance walking in the West for centuries, it has been completely utilitarian. There is a reason that the countless trails and wagon roads that have crossed the mountains of the West virtually all make east-west transects. For Native Americans the harsh alpine environment offered little in the way of food or resources unavailable in greater quantities at lower elevations. The greatest value of early trails was the facilitation of trade. For emigrant settlers the mountains generally were sources of hardship and difficulty. There was no utility in north-south passage along the crest of the mountains.
What the PCT does would be, for the most part, unimaginably frivolous and unnecessarily risky in the eyes of Native Americans and emigrants. It is a hike strictly for the sake of walking.
As the concept of recreation gained a foothold in American culture, trails like the Cascade Crest (completed in 1935), Oregon Skyline Trail (established in 1920), the John Muir Trail (begun in 1915 and completed in1938), and the California Hiking and Riding Trail (begun in 1945 but never fully completed) were created. [See Gerald Williams “Brief History of the Oregon/Washington Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail” published on November 30, 2011 for an excellent review of some of this early history.]
Yet these early trails still were not created to facilitate long-distance hiking. They provided access to high country for hunting, mountaineering, camping and hiking. The notion of thru-hiking would come much later. This was the era of the Sierra Club High Camps and outings, the explorations of people like William O. Douglas, Oregon’s Mazamas (established in 1894) and Washington’s Mountaineers (1906).
Arguably, the popularity of the recreational long distance hike (as opposed to the pilgrimage, the migration, or the exodus) became increasingly possible with the completion of the AT in 1937 and the passage of the National Trails System Act in 1968. But, it really has only been in the last three decades that thru-hiking has boomed. While there is no easy way to gather precise data, these are the estimated numbers of 2,000-milers (reported by the AT Conservancy).
And this chart represents the PCTA’s best guess regarding the number of 2,600-milers over the past 65 years.
Are we witnessing a fad? Will the numbers of long-distance hikers continue this kind of exponential growth? What will sustain the interest? In the course of the past three decades, thru-hiking has become an extreme sport . . . a speed contest, a competition around pack-weight and minimalism, a party.
What is next in the evolution of long-distance walking?
Send your perspective to [email protected] . . .
Lark Angel says:
I would suggest (re)reading Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, the Travels of Marco Polo or other accounts of trade/travel. Perhaps pilgrimages & crusades have taken on a more utilitarian/theological perspective, but they were undoubtedly just as much as getaway adventures as thru-hiking is today. The conceit of every generation is the belief that their experiences are unique. Place a peripatetic hiker in the Roman era, and he would fit right in joining a trading caravan to the Levant.
Mr. Question says:
If it is a fad, it is just beginning. The current growth in the number of long distance trails throughout the United States speaks to the increasing interest in the long walks.
