The Art of Hiking: Basic Technique

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By Thomas Winnett with Melanie Findling.

For beginning hikers, the two most important hiking habits to develop are: 1) start slowly, and 2) walk rhythmically. Most people think that just because they were born into the bipedal race, they can walk well. Not so - many people walk poorly and inefficiently.

1. Start slowly

The story of the tortoise and the hare could have been written about trail-hikers. Those few hikers who are able to hold themselves down to a plodding pace from the very beginning eventually overtake all the "off-and-running" types, and are the first to arrive in camp.

How fast you should go - your pace - depends on:

Your body's strength
The load you are carrying
The distance you plan to cover
The time available to cover it
The steepness of the trail
The nature of the trailway
Your mood that day

2. Walk rhythmically

The second requisite of successful hiking is a steady, rhythmic pace. You will need many miles of conscious practice before you can leave to your body the job of keeping steady time. Many hikers accomplish rhythmic hiking by concentrating on their breathing. For every breath, take one, two or three steps, depending on your terrain and level of fatigue.

You may think of your steps as marking the tempo of a march, varying with the steepness of the trail:

andante on the level
allegro going downhill
lento going up

How often should you break and for how long?

Frequent short rests are the best, for a simple physiological reason. What makes your muscles tired is that they accumulate lactic acid, a chemical result of exertion. Two 5-minute rests per hour will decrease the lactic-acid concentration better than one 10-minute stop.

Depending on all the things that affect proper pace, I stop for 3 to 6 minutes every 20 to 60 minutes. I also eat or drink something at every stop, be it only a lemon drop or a sip of water. Most beginners go far too long without eating or drinking.