The title is probably misleading. There is no right or wrong way to hike. Whatever way one hikes, the chances are that it is better for health than the usual everyday life. If somebody smokes and eats junk food customarily – and continues doing it while out hiking, he or she is still better off out hiking than doing the same by staying on a couch and binge watching Netflix. The effects of bad habits are somewhat mitigated by the very fact of being out hiking, i.e doing physical exercise in fresh air.
I do not know motivation of other persons. I can try to define my motivation for going out on hike. I basically seek soothing physical exercise by walking all day in nature, meditative experience, complete digital detox. I expect to come back from a longer hike calmer and fitter.
There are several aspects for my hiking, which I consider of critical importance, without which my hiking experience would be deficient. Those aspects are mentioned below.
- Walk in minimalist shoes, no matter how difficult is the trail. Minimalist shoes will not make you the fastest hiker, the opposite is more likely. But going while feeling every stone you step on, being very mindful all the time where to put your feet, enjoy the benefits of walking in minimalist shoes – for me it is very important. For me hiking in ‘regular hiking boots’ – you know, those one can comfortably kick stones around and hardly feel anything – are not enjoyable, or desirable.
Why 99% do it wrong: This year (2023) I hiked for 4 weeks doing Tour du Mont Blanc and GR 20 trail in Corsica. I only met one person who hiked in minimalist shoes (Xero hiking boots). That makes us 2 out of thousands of persons I met in the mountains (those are very crowded trails, you generally meet a lot of people every day). - Make no compromise on food quality when out on trail. Good food is generally not available in the mountains. The only reliable food sources are dinners and breakfasts in shelters. Those meals, as prepared by shelter operators, are so heavily based on pasta and white bread that should be considered as junk food.
For this reason I almost never eat shelter food. This year I ate twice during 4-week hike. One time it was good (no bread or pasta) and the other time I got sick for a half day (lasagne and too much bread plus apparently some sanitary condition during the food preparation).
Why 99% do it wrong: This year I did not meet a single person who considered shelter meal as junk food. There were some complaints in places where it was the worst but shelter food is generally approved as good. I noticed that Coca-Cola and potato chips were the favourite drink and snack in shelters – and that stuff is usually brought up there on donkey back or with helicopter. Snacking on mountain tops is very usual – typically a sandwich or some candy bars. - I prefer nice trails in woods rather than challenging stony mountain tops with great views. Trail in woods generally allow for low-intensity cardio allowing to walk from sunrise and to sunset without getting excessively tired. Trail in woods allow for meditative experience and nasal breathing. Woods offer more enjoyable sensory experience of sounds and scents than any mountain top. I find no pleasure of conquering tree-less mountain tops through strenuous physical exercise, often under blazing sun – and I derive hardly any pleasure from views from mountain tops (I may pass those without stopping, they are not the reason I hike).
The trails I chose this year were a bad fit for my hiking needs. Those are epic trails and had to be done once. But those were difficult trails, too risky for minimalist shoes (although I managed to complete without any foot injuries), did not allow for sufficient meditative experience — too many steep ascends where nasal breathing is a struggle if possible at all.
Why 99% do it wrong: I did not meet any person who would say a half bad word about the trail. Even if all of them had too much cardio than can be considered as a healthy dose. Those trails are done mostly for ego – ‘the Europe’s hardest’, ‘one of the most beautiful’ rather than for pure enjoyment and health enhancement.
Those aspects are very subjective. Every person has their own. These are mine subjective considerations. That is my ‘right way of hiking’. According to those [my] criteria, 99.9% of people do it wrong. And probably I do it wrong if their criteria are applied.
For me hiking in non-minimalist shoes, eating junk food while out in mountains and having too much cardio (impeding meditation and nasal breathing) is not proper hiking, I don’t want that kind of hiking. I’m at peace that for 99.9% of others this is of no importance and they hike as they deem to be the correct way.
Paleo Karma way is about opting out – of ultra-processed foods, of over-pampered shoes – and embracing the aspects of life what made our Paleo era ancestors strong, healthy and resilient individuals.
One should be at peace that 99% of products in any regular grocery store are not good for health. That 99% of shoes sold are sub-optimal for health, particularly posture. That social networks are designed to be addictive. Etc. In general, to be at peace that 99% of mainstream products and habits should be viewed as harmful – they lead to collective health stats. And those health stats are appalling. Cardiovascular diseases and cancer are the main causes of death in the developed world. Those terminal illnesses were virtually unknown to Paleo era person.
Consumption of mainstream products and adopting of mainstream lifestyle leads to becoming part of mainstream health stats, i.e being a sick person. Paleo Karma lifestyle is about remaining healthy and happy person. That’s a lifestyle so different from lifestyle of the majority of people. Hiking habits/gear/motivation is just another illustration of it.