Hiking

Beginner
The most accessible outdoor activity is without a doubt -- walking. You can step out the door of your home to begin a walk without any specialized equipment on the spur of the moment. Walking, especially for out of shape people, is an excellent way to get in shape and stay healthy.

Where you walk makes a difference. In the city you may walk on a lot of paved streets. Pavement is hard on the feet so good running shoes are needed. Easier on the feet are trails with a gravel or natural surface. Natural surface while softer can be trickier to walk on if you got rocks and tree roots to contend with though.

Voltsmarching is a popular activity which mixes city walking with perhaps some walking in the bush. Voltsmarching is popular with baby boomers and is usually done in big groups. Voltssport is voltsmarching but with a different means of transportation. A walking drive (aka walkathon) for a charity is a type of voltsmarch.

Beyond simple walking is hiking. Hiking is getting away from the urban landscape and taking on trails in the bush. This kind of hiking is sometimes called bushwalking. Preparations for day hikes are usually a bit more elaborate than simple walks. On a hike you may bring along some food and drink. A drive to the place where you wish to hike is also commonplace.

Intermediate
Day hikes range in difficulty. Longer hikes are more difficult and so are hikes with steep hills. A two kilometer hike with rolling terrain could be considered an average day hike. Two kilometers hike is for most people long enough to provide sufficient exercise and short enough to prevent possible boredom.

Advanced
Advanced forms of hiking include backpacking and rock climbing. Both activities could be considered advanced since they require a lot of preparation.

With backpacking you are planning to stay on a hiking trail for longer than a day. That means you bring with you not only food and water but a lot of other stuff too. The other stuff includes shelter, sleeping bags, cooking gear, first aid kits and more. This stuff you must carry with you the whole way. Your pack could weigh between 30 to well over 70 pounds. Getting used to that requires a bit of training. However, you do gain the freedom of being able to stay on a trail longer than you normally could. Some people are into lightweight or ultralight backpacking. Ultralight weight gear comes at quite expensive and may not always be as resisliant as heavier gear.

Rock climbing is a difficult activity too, often an extreme activity. First you must learn the skills to properly rock climb. These skills can be learnt from a qualified instructor. Often the training ground will be an artificial rock wall (possibly indoors). With proper training the risk of falling to your death can be minimized. Other risks with rock climbing is exhaustion and improper aclimation to altitude.

Walking on top of wooden structures (ladders) made for extreme mountain biking can be exciting and nerve racking, although not as dangerous as using your bike on them. If that is too easy for you you can run on them instead. Falling from this structure is easy -- you could lose traction, get one foot stuck in the structure and trip or simply lose your balance.

xxx An interesting form of walking is found in Jamica. Instead of walking beside a waterall the people walk up it in a long train.

Extreme
What would fall under extreme hiking? A backpacking trip that is longer than a week might qualify, particularily those trips across continents. Another possiblility, is rock skiing with boots. This informal sport was invented by a person who tired of slipping on rocks walking on the Appalachian Trail. So why not slide? See http://gorp.away.com/gorp/activity/hiking/thruhike/nina/ninab_week6.htm .

Extreme doesn't necessarily mean a difficult hike. Volcano hiking is not very strenous but is very dangerous if you don't have a guide that knows where it is safe to walk. Getting so close to a force that literally changes the landscape can be a thrill. Nightwalking can't be descibed as strenous either. When you nightwalk you are likely walking slowly, but you need to when you walk on a nature trail with only star light. How difficult a night walk is depends on the night sky. If you are away from the glow of a city and have a moonless night your perceptual systems will be tested their limits. On a moonlit night a nightwalk can be rather easy, and I would rate it as "intermediate".

Variations
Straight-lining is the sport where you pick a line on a topographic map -- ideally one with the most extreme topographic and then go out and do it. Be sure to bring all you need -- you may have to go through impossibly thick bush, cross bodies of water, or even climb cliff walls.

An article describing six sports including straight-lining, which is described in more detail in a book called "Bone Games" http://www.maximonline.com/sports/articles/article_574.html

Rogaining is competitive long distance bushwalking in teams of two to five with scoring over a 24 hour or shorter period. Rogaining challenges your ability to hike long distances and naviagation skills. While it is a competitive activity, rogaining for many is a chance to go on a relaxing long distance hike and enjoy the landscape. Rogaining can be applied to metropolitan area (metrogaines), skiing (snowgaines) or bicycling (cyclogaines) http://rogaine.asn.au/ara/ http://www.rogaining.com/

Orienteering is similar to rogaining except that instead of getting as many control points in a certain amount of time you are aiming to go to a set number of locations in the smallest amount of time.

Geocaching is similar to rogaining and orienteering except there are no timing and no set number of points to visit. With geocaching you use a GPS to locate a cache put in the bush by somebody else and exchange items in the cache. Visit the geocaching section for more info.

Accessories
Hiking poles are an excellent accessory. They can:

provide extra balance
give your arms an extra workout while walking
give you a slight boost in speed

The drawback to hiking poles is they are less useful in areas where the topography changes wildly because you would always have to adjust your hiking poles.

Links
http://hikinghq.net/ Hiking Headquarters
http://www.bushwalking.org.au/ Bushwalking

Ultra marathon

http://bikerdave.murioi.com/index.html To look at