Who got you hooked on hiking?

[misprof]

I am just wondering who got people hooked on hiking the AT? For me it was my Dad. When I was a kid we hiked together most of the AT in Connecticut and parts of Vermont and New Hampshire all the while grilling me on my math facts. He took me camping, canoeing, skiing and hiking. He taught me to see the beauty around me in the woods. Standing on many bluffs he would tell me the name of every peak we saw or the name of all the constellations. It was not until he died that I learned that he was petrified of heights.

[Woodturner]

I got myself hooked on hiking the AT.
It was something I decided I wanted to do while I was in the service during the first half of the 70’s. Although my attempt at a thru-hike was unsuccessful, I have returned many times to do and redo sections I enjoyed the first time around. It brings back memories of people and events that come back as clear as if they happened yesterday instead of decades ago.
Hiking in general is something that goes back as far as I can remember.
Growing up, many family vacations were to the Smokies or Shenandoah National Parks. We got out of the car. A lot. Closer to home, the county I live in is blessed with a nature preserve, and the Indiana Audubon Society has a 600+ acre tract of woods and fields (Mary Gray Bird Sanctuary) that have many trails. One county over there is a state park with several miles of trails.
Currently I am wearing down the trails of the state park in preparation for a hike from Davenport Gap to Erwin. I should be thirty or so miles into that little trek in less than two weeks.
If I can get all the problems worked out I will be headed north from Springer next spring for another thru attempt. I will be 41 years older than the last time, but I will also be 41 years wiser. I know what I did wrong the first time around. Barring injury or something going sour at home, I think this time I’ll make it.

[kayak karl]

My Dad in the 50's. Pennypack Park in Philly.

[moytoy]

I did the 72 miles in the GSMNP in when I was thirteen with the BSA. My Dad was the Scout Master so I would have to give him the credit for that and a lot of other things as well.

[CoolBobby]

Hunting terrorist in Afghans peaks...

[BirdBrain]

Maine and God's creation of Maine. I have memories as far back as 4 years old of going for long walks in the woods with my 2 older sisters. I have pictures of me on top of hills when I was about 6. The woods has always called to me. Most of that walking did not have a path on it. To be honest, the first time I walked on the AT it felt a little weird following a long path. It felt unnatural, like there was going to be a parking lot every 2 miles or something. I love it now. It was not what I would call hiking growing up. It is what I call hiking now.

Edit: I should add that my step-father took me hunting and fishing a ton. He got me hooked on those activities. I took up trapping on my own. He was never a hiker. Most of my family think I am nuts for wanting to walk off into the walks and sleep there.

[mark schofield]

the boy scouts. that's why when a bunch of scouts show up at a camping area or shelter now, I try not to get too much of an attitude.

[elray]

Bill Bryson. Sure I was in the Scouts and have also hunted but until that book the idea of long distance hiking never really seemed an option, thank you Sir.

[rafe]

Climbing Mt. Moosilauke and the Franconia Ridge with some house-mates in college.

[Deadeye]

Dad. 60's and 70's

[SteelCut]

My Scout Master when I lived in Johnson City, TN in the early to mid 1970's. Ed Garvey's book got me interested in hiking the entire trail when I read it in 1975 or 1976.

[denimlabels]

My dad used to drag me and my sister on day hikes up at the Delaware Water Gap all the time being that we were from NJ. He also dragged us out to Jacksons Hole to hike in the Tetons, hiked a good way up Mt. Rainier a couple years later, also hiked up in Glacier when I was a bit older but still young.

I guess it comes from that. I used to hike in boy scouts also but the Scout leaders didn't approve of me bringing six pack of Bud along on the trips! I mention hiking to my dad now and he think I am nuts! Funny how people can change.

[Slo-go'en]

A friend of mine from work took me and a couple of other first timers up to Camels Hump in Vermont on Columbus day weekend. I believe it was 1979. It was a full moon weekend and we hiked up in a light misty rain. The rain cleared out late in the afternoon with a cold front which put a glaze of ice on everything. Even so, we hiked up from the cabin (at the time located 0.3 miles from the summit called Gorham Lodge, but is now gone) with the full moon reflecting off the glaze of ice. Truly magical, exactly how I pictured Middle Earth to look like. Even though we were ill prepared for the cold and wet, we lived and I was hooked.

The next couple of hikes were to the Gray Knob cabin for Thanksgiving, New years and Washington's Birthday. It's really amazing we lived through those trips with the poor gear we had at the time. Good thing there was a wood stove in the cabin!

[GreatDane]

A guy I was dating in the late 70's who introduced me to camping and hiking. We spent one New Years at Amicalola and nearly froze, but hiking the approach trail got me hooked. Thanks, Raymond!!

[nsherry61]

My dad and mom. Scouting did its best to squash my interest, so I quit.

[Cobble]

Harpers Ferry ATC Office when they handed me that looooongg map. I tucked away the map in a drawer as well as somewhere in the back of my brain.

[Dogwood]

I grew up during an age when children were encouraged to be outside more untethered from electronics and all things man made without constant supervision by adults that were paranoid and fearful of Nature and society. My childhood generation were not sedentary couch potatoes. Since childhood all my friends led very active lifestyles. We were always in the woods exploring, hiking, building tree forts, out fishing, boating, later hunting, trouncing up creeks, walking on the Atlantic Ocean beach, exploring the seashore out on jetties and docks, swimming in lakes and creeks, riding bicycles, walking a lot, climbing mountains, finding/eating berries, making tea from what we found in Nature, getting rained on and dirty/muddy, and feeling the sunshine on our faces. We came back to the house with occasional scratches, scrapes, insect bites, poison ivy, and the rare broken bone. We felt alive.

Later the Boy Scouts introduced me to camping and hiking. For all the derogatory things said about the BSA by narrow minded individuals with an axe to grind I see the BSA being instrumental in many of my childhood friends and myself's embracing of Nature and the outdoors. From an early age, as early as 6 or 7 yrs old, I always sought out adventure and exploration. This need in my soul has just magnified to greater degrees. I love to learn and experience new things, places, people, languages, culture, etc. I have learned to enjoyably embrace the unknown not be frightened of it. I travel a lot too. I constantly put myself in new place and predicaments; I love it. To this day I still love to walk despite having motor vehicles, mountain and road racing bikes.

LD hiking with its simple frugal way of living with constant movement, adventure, and exploration is a prime fit for me.

[MkBibble]

The first Boy Scout troop I joined was super boring; all we ever did was work on badges. Later I joined a troop sponsored by our church and it was totally different. We camped a lot, and went on multi-day hikes and canoe trips. So BSA hooked me on hiking and canoeing.

[ChrisJackson]

My Dad :-)

[Kenai]

My parents gave me the bug from a young age, camping and hiking in New England. Dad was a grad. student at Middlebury College in the 60's, and we spent a summer in Ripton, Vt, in the mid 60's. The Long Trail is just a few miles from there, and the whole family would do little day hikes on and around the Long Trail that summer. I think I was 6. Most summers, we would take extended camping trips, some for the entire summer. Around 1970, we spent the summer, camping and hiking, in the Greens and Whites. We hiked the Presidential's that summer, as a family, staying in the AMC huts. I remember being annoyed whenever I would see cars with their "This Car Climbed Mt. Washington", bumper stickers. It was kind of a let down to see all the people at the summit, who had taken the Cog Railway, or had driven up in their cars , after we had humped it up there on foot.
The EMS store on rt. 9, in Hadley, Mass. was my favorite store for years. I used to spend hours in there, looking at all the cool gear.