After leaving the Katy Trail in Missouri, Leonardo has become a reluctant passenger on the back of the car. Out west most of the "back roads" are unpaved and his 1.5" wide tires are not suitable for biking on those types of roads. The paved roads tend to be more heavily trafficed and the distance between towns much greater than back east. So we walk.
Trudging along the trail, I had plenty of time to ponder on some of life's unanswerable questions. For instance, what makes a walk a hike? If you consult a dictionary, and look up "walk" and "hike", you will be as puzzled as I am. Go ahead and look them up. You'll see what I mean. Having been on over a dozen hikes (walks?) in the past three weeks, I have a few thoughts on the subject.
If the trail is paved, is it a walk or a hike? The Rim Trail at the Grand Canyon runs 12 miles from Pipe Creek Vista to Hermits Rest. It offers breathtaking views of the Canyon and connects the lodges for those who wish to walk rather than ride the shuttle buses. All but 3 miles of it is paved and very flat. However, the non-paved portion is rocky and steep in places. Last Tuesday we traversed 8 miles of the Rim Trail including the non-paved portion. The Grand Canyon web site describes it as a hike, and the distance did leave our legs a little sore. But we were never more than a short distance from camera toting, flip-flop wearing tourists. Walk or hike?
If it's not distance that differentiates a walk from a hike, could it be exertion? On three occasions we climbed down the Canyon on very steep trails that eventually lead to the Colorado River. Well placed warning signs cautioned against attempting the trip to the river (15+ mile round trip) in one day due to the heat and the lack of water on the trail. Park Rangers advised carrying one liter of water per person per hour of hiking and suggested wearing sturdy hiking shoes due to the steep rocky terrain. Weighted down with a gallon of water each, our packs filled with food, rain gear, a compass, and a medical kit, imagine our surprise when we were passed by people wearing sandals and carrying only a camera and 1/2 liter bottle of water. What were they thinking? Walk or hike?
Maybe a hike is a challenge and a walk is not? In New Mexico we visited the lava field of McCarty Crater, a volcano that blew 3000 years ago. A one mile trail marked only by cairns (there is no path since the ground is hardened lava) guides the visitor onto the lava field and to the crater itself. A cairn is a pile of rocks that marks the trail. To prevent disorientation, walk from cairn to cairn (and hope that no one has added a cairn off the trail just for fun). After 20 minutes we reached a cairn and for the life of us could not see the next one. Nor could we still see the one behind us which was blocked by sagebrush. The compass that would have shown the way was left in the car since we anticipated a walk and not a hike. Although we knew the general direction of the parking lot that was no more than 1/2 mile away as the crow flies, we are not crows and we needed to force down the panic that was beginning to cloud our judgment. Hearts pounding as if we had just climbed a 15% grade, the hidden cairn came into view. In less than 10 minutes we were safely ensconced in the car and on our way for our next adventure. Walk or hike?
It seems to me that the difference lies in one's expectations and the degree to which we challenge ourselves. Stay tuned for more hikes to come.
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