49 Fun Facts About Hiking

The Appalachian Trail runs between Springer Mountain in Georgia and which mountain in Maine?

The route is almost 2,200 miles long and passes through 14 states.

How many US states does the Appalachian Trail pass through?

Its highest point is Kuwohi (formerly Clingmans Dome) at 6,643 feet; its lowest is 124 feet at Bear Mountain, New York.

Which forester conceived the idea of the Appalachian Trail in 1921?

The trail was completed in 1937 and became a National Scenic Trail under the 1968 National Trails System Act.

Who is credited with the first thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail, in 1948?

Roughly 25% of thru-hike attempts succeed today; the walk usually takes five to seven months.

How old was Emma 'Grandma' Gatewood when she solo thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail in 1955?

She wore Keds sneakers, carried a homemade denim bag and slept under a shower curtain; she went on to hike the trail three times.

What footwear did Grandma Gatewood famously hike the Appalachian Trail in?

She had raised 11 children and took up hiking at 66 after reading a National Geographic article about the trail.

Roughly how many people hike some section of the Appalachian Trail each year?

The trail is maintained by 31 volunteer trail clubs alongside the Appalachian Trail Conservancy and federal agencies.

The Pacific Crest Trail runs from the Mexican border to Canada through which three states?

It is about 2,653 miles long and climbs to 13,153 feet at Forester Pass in the Sierra Nevada.

What is the highest point on the Pacific Crest Trail?

At 13,153 feet it sits in the Sierra Nevada; the range's highest summit is a side trip off the trail, not on it.

Which 2012 memoir, later a Reese Witherspoon film, sent a wave of new hikers onto the Pacific Crest Trail?

Cheryl Strayed hiked over 1,000 miles of the PCT in 1995; the trail was only officially completed in 1993.

Which three trails make up the Triple Crown of Hiking?

As of late 2025, 837 hikers had completed all three since 1994.

Roughly what share of the Continental Divide Trail was actually complete in 2021?

The gaps are filled with dirt and paved roads; the trail runs about 3,028 miles through five states from Mexico to Canada.

Which Colorado fourteener is the highest point on the Continental Divide Trail?

At 14,278 feet it is the highest summit on the Divide itself; the CDT was designated in 1978.

The John Muir Trail ends on the summit of which peak, the highest in the contiguous United States?

It starts at Happy Isles in Yosemite Valley and shares about 160 miles with the Pacific Crest Trail.

John Muir was a founder and first president of which conservation organisation, established in 1892?

Work on the trail bearing his name began in 1915, the year he died, and finished in 1938.

What symbol marks the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage routes?

The routes lead to the shrine of the apostle James in Santiago de Compostela and were listed by UNESCO in 1993.

How far must a pilgrim walk to qualify for the compostela certificate at Santiago?

The Camino Francés from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port is about 780 km; roughly 500,000 people completed a route in 2024.

Which 2010 film starring Martin Sheen follows a father walking the Camino after his son's death?

It was directed by Sheen's son Emilio Estevez, who also plays the son.

What is the highest point on the classic Inca Trail to Machu Picchu?

Warmi Wanusqa reaches 4,215 m; the four-day trek ends at Inti Punku, the Sun Gate.

In which month is the Inca Trail closed each year for maintenance?

Metal-tipped trekking poles and pack animals are banned on most sections to limit erosion.

Kilimanjaro is Africa's loftiest peak. What other superlative does it hold?

It rises to 5,895 m from the plains with no surrounding range; its three cones are Kibo, Mawenzi and Shira.

Which Kilimanjaro route is nicknamed the 'Coca-Cola' route for its relative ease?

About 50,000 climbers a year attempt the mountain, with a summit success rate of roughly 70-80%.

Who made the first recorded ascent of Kilimanjaro's summit in October 1889?

Sheila MacDonald became the first woman to summit in 1927; the ice cap has lost over 80% of its area since 1900.

What do New Zealanders call hiking?

Australians say bushwalking, Britons often say walking or rambling, and continental Europeans use trekking for multi-day mountain trips.

Which is the oldest hiking organisation in America, established in 1876?

Walking for pleasure grew out of the 18th-century Romantic movement; Wordsworth's 1790 walking tour is an early landmark.

What is the first of the seven Leave No Trace principles?

The Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics was founded in 1994 and the seven-principle list was finalised by 1999.

Which three US agencies produced the 1987 pamphlet 'Leave No Trace Land Ethics'?

Park visits had jumped from 33 million to 172 million between 1950 and 1970, so agencies chose education over restriction.

The Ten Essentials list first appeared in print in the 1974 edition of which mountaineering book?

The Mountaineers of Seattle compiled it; the first five items handle emergencies and the second five let you survive a night out.

Which of these is NOT among the Ten Essentials listed in the 2017 Freedom of the Hills?

The list is navigation, headlamp, sun protection, first aid, knife, fire, shelter, extra food, extra water and extra clothes.

What colour are the blazes marking the main route of the Appalachian Trail?

Blue blazes usually mark side trails; the word blaze originally meant a mark slashed into tree bark.

In trail slang, what is a 'duck'?

Larger stacked-stone markers are cairns, used above the treeline where there is nothing to paint.

Central European trail markers such as the Czech system typically use what design?

The colour of the middle bar signals the trail's difficulty; the whole mark fits a 10 cm square.

Which pass on the Appalachian Trail marks its lowest point, at 124 feet?

The trail actually passes through the Bear Mountain zoo; the highest point is Kuwohi at 6,643 feet.

Which 18-year-old claimed the first thru-hike of the Pacific Crest Trail in 1970, a claim still disputed?

Clinton Churchill Clarke had first proposed the trail in 1932; only about 14% of thru-hike attempts succeed.

Roughly what share of Pacific Crest Trail thru-hike attempts are estimated to succeed?

Most finishers take four to six months; the total elevation gain is around 489,000 feet.

How long did the John Muir Trail take to build, from Muir's death to completion in 1938?

Work began in 1915; the Paiute people had used the route long before and some now call it Nuumu Poyo, the Paiute Road.

How many hikers had thru-hiked the Continental Divide Trail in 1999, compared with more than 150 in 2019?

A successful thru-hike takes about five months across New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho and Montana.

Which two months mark the usual John Muir Trail hiking window, after snowmelt and before new snow?

The trail rises from 4,040 feet at Happy Isles to 14,505 feet on Whitney.

Which 14th-century Italian poet is often cited as an early recreational hiker for climbing Mont Ventoux in 1336?

He made the 1,912-metre climb with his brother and two servants on April 26, 1336, purely for the experience.

The 467 km Kungsleden, or King's Trail, runs between Abisko and Hemavan in which country?

About 18 km of the route is lake crossings, and in winter the same line becomes a ski trail through the Arctic north.

The Tour du Mont Blanc circuit passes through which three countries?

Walkers usually take 9 to 14 days going counter-clockwise; the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc runners do the whole loop inside 46 and a half hours.

Trekkers to Everest's South Base Camp usually fly from Kathmandu to which small airport to start?

About 40,000 people a year make the trek from there. No road reaches the airstrip, so anything large and heavy arrives by plane.

Scotland's West Highland Way starts at Milngavie near Glasgow and finishes in which town?

Opened in 1980 as Scotland's first official Long Distance Route, it draws around 45,000 full-route walkers a year and feral goats descended from Clearances-era herds.

The GR 20, considered the hardest of France's GR routes, crosses which Mediterranean island?

Around 180 km with 12,000 m of climbing, it is usually done in about 15 days and draws 10,000 to 20,000 hikers a year.

New Zealand's 3,000 km Te Araroa runs from Cape Reinga in the north to which southern town?

It officially opened in December 2011 after a decade of volunteer work, and one section is a river that has to be kayaked.

The highest point of New Zealand's Milford Track is a pass named after which 1888 explorer-guide?

He was the first guide to take walkers from Lake Te Anau to Milford Sound and baked a scone called pompolona that still names one of the lodges.

Whose 1992 book PCT Hiker's Handbook popularised ultralight backpacking?

He claimed a 13 lb base weight on his first Pacific Crest Trail thru-hike and under 10 lb by his third, the figure many now treat as the ultralight line.

Alfred Wainwright offered anyone completing the Pennine Way in one go what at the Border Hotel?

He cut it to a half-pint in 1979, but the standing offer at Kirk Yetholm is still thought to have cost him up to 15,000 pounds by his death in 1991.

Which journalist proposed the Pennine Way in a 1935 Daily Herald article inspired by US trails?

He had the Appalachian Trail in mind and went on to write the first official guidebook. The route was originally meant to end at Wooler, not Kirk Yetholm.