Wednesday 16 June 2010

When Was Hiking Invented?


The hiking we know and love today has been around for many years. It might not have crossed many people's minds, but for some, the question of 'when was hiking invented?' is a curious one that still needs answering. People who are passionate about hiking genuinely want to know how it all started, where it all came from, and who had the crazy idea to start trekking for miles and miles!

Of course, hiking wasn't really 'invented' as such; it was more a case of discovering it. A German named Philipp Bussemer from the quaint city of Baden-Baden is said to have opened the first tourist information centre in the Black Forest at the end of the 19th century. He generated huge interest in hiking and general exploration by publishing hiking maps and guides and soon started signposting hiking trails in the Black Forest. This was his love; his passion and he had a loyal set of followers who were curious to know more about hiking and how they could explore various locations through the simple art of, well, walking.

It sounds simple and it is; hiking doesn't require any skills as such, it's a hobby for people that want to get more out of life and Philipp Bussemer was keen on promoting the wonders of hiking. He lectured about hiking trails and provided estimated times of when people could be expected to finish a hiking trail.

There is in fact a crossover between hiking, power walking and trekking, and this is something that is still evident today. People fulfil their love of walking by turning it into something more exhilarating, which is where hiking and trekking come in. Walking enthusiasts know that you have to develop your walking skills to become an excellent hiker / trekker, and this is a sport in itself.

Philipp Bussemer helped the German community to discover hiking, and we're grateful to people like him that the spirit of hiking is still very much alive, all over the world.

4 comments:

  1. thanks for this you just saved me from writing a whole paragraph.... Thank god i have a nice teacher and he told me i could copy and paste <3 <3

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  2. Actually hiking for pleasure can be traced back to the Roman Emperor Hadrian, Petrarch and da Vinci, as well as the first tourist guide, written by an English priest. You can read much more on the topic in the book, Ramble On: A History of Hiking:
    https://www.amazon.com/dp/1725036266/

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  4. Wonderful articles about hiking. i think hiking is the activities people do regularly mostly living near hills and mountains.
    any way love the way you brief hiking. Keep doing the good work.
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