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Hiking is one of our favourite ways to explore the world. Here we have gathered all our favourite hiking quotes in one place. So if you are looking for inspirational hiking quotes, hiking with friends quotes or hiking quotes for couples we have you covered.
Whether you are using it for hiking quotes for Instagram posts or for inspiration scroll on down and find one of the trail quotes that speaks to you.
We quit our jobs over 10 years ago and have been travelling and hiking ever since. We make a point of finding hikes in any of the countries we visit whether they are a short wander, a strenuous day hike or even multi-day treks. I have included pictures from our hikes with the quotes on hiking that inspire us or make us think a little more. And let’s face it, there is nothing but time to think while hiking.
Our Favorite Hiking Quotes
These are a few of our favourite hiking quotes that always inspire us to get out for the next hike.
“In the mountains, there are only two grades: You can either do it, or you can’t.” – Rusty Baillie
“It is the mountain that has been calling me, and it’s time to answer.” – Susan Jagannath
“The woods are lovely, dark and deep. But I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep.” – Robert Frost
“Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter.” – Izaak Walton
“There are no shortcuts to any place worth going.” – Beverly Sills
“Leave the road, take the trails.” – Pythagoras
“Some beautiful paths can’t be discovered without getting lost.” — Erol Ozan
“Never follow someone else’s path unless you’re in the woods and you’re lost, and you see a path. By all means, you should follow that.” — Ellen DeGeneres
“Hiking side effects include sweating, euphoria and general awesomeness.”
“I don’t get it. The trail looked so flat on the map.”
“Hiking is the only slightly less ugly stepsister of running.” – Lindy Hughes
“Always hike with someone in worse shape than you. The bears out there will know.“
“What on earth would I do if four bears came into my camp? Why, I would die of course. Literally sh** myself lifeless.” – Bill Bryson
“Hiking—much like drinking—is something that sounds more fun to the uninitiated than it actually is.” – Mindy McGinnis
“Hiking’s not for everyone. Notice the wilderness is mostly empty.” – Sonja Yoerg
“Hiking is just walking where it’s okay to pee.” – Demetri Martin
“Trails are like that: you’re floating along in a Shakespearean Arden paradise and expect to see nymphs and flute boys, then suddenly you’re struggling in a hot broiling sun of hell in dust and nettles and poison oak…just like life.” – Jack Kerouac
“I don’t like following in people’s footsteps; I like making my own trail.” – The Miz
“A tourist follows a trail; a mountaineer finds one.” – Reinhold Messner
“Whenever the pressure of our complex city life thins my blood and numbs my brain, I seek relief in the trail; and when I hear the coyote wailing to the yellow dawn, my cares fall from me – I am happy.” – Hamlin Garland
“If you do not expect the unexpected you will not find it, for it is not to be reached by search or trail.” – Heraclitus
“It isn’t the mountain ahead that wears you out; it’s the grain of sand in your shoe.” – Robert W. Service
“When preparing to climb a mountain – pack a light heart.” – Dan May
“Every mountain top is within reach if you just keep climbing.” – Barry Finlay
Short Hiking Quotes for Instagram
Sometimes you are just looking for something short and sweet. You don’t always need lengthy quotes about hiking trails to get your point across. These short hiking quotes for Instagram are perfect for your next post and your followers will love them. If you are looking for a caption for your next hiking Instagram post we also have a lists of Short Hiking Quotes and hiking captions for Instagram list. If you like quotes that are short check out our list of the Best Short Quotes.
“I love places that make you realize how tiny you and your problems are.”
“Always take the scenic route.”
“Take only memories, leave only footprints.” – Chief Si’ahl
“Wander often. Wonder always.”
“Not all who wander are lost.” – JRR Tolkien
“The mountains are calling and I must go.” – John Muir
“The world reveals itself to those who travel on foot” – Werner Herzog
“There is always an adventure waiting in the woods.” – Katelyn S. Bolds
“Remember to look up to the stars, not down to your feet.” – Stephen Hawking
“Chasing angels or fleeing demons, go to the mountains.” – Jeffrey Rasley
“Climbing is as close as we can come to flying.” – Margaret Young
“Leave the road, take the trails.” – Pythagoras
“Do more things that make you forget to check your phone.”
“Where the signposts end, the trail begins.” – Marty Rubin
“The mountains were there and so was I.” – Maurice Herzog
“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” – Lao Tzu
Inspirational Hiking Quotes
There are hiking motivational quotes and inspirational quotes that will make you want to get out and hike. Check through this list of inspirational hiking quotes to find the one that inspires you. You might also like our list of Short Inspirational Quotes.
“I will not follow where the path may lead, but I will go where there is no path, and I will leave a trail.” – Muriel Strode
“Walk on a rainbow trail; walk on a trail of song, and all about you will be beauty. There is a way out of every dark mist, over a rainbow trail.” – Robert Motherwell
“I could never resist the call of the trail.” – Buffalo Bill
“A trail through the mountains, if used, becomes a path in a short time, but, if unused, becomes blocked by grass in an equally short time.” – Mencius
“I remember a hundred lovely lakes, and recall the fragrant breath of pine and fir and cedar and poplar trees. The trail has strung upon it, as upon a thread of silk, opalescent dawns and saffron sunsets.” – Hamlin Garland
“Over the mountains and through the woods, down the river and up the valley, over the boulders and through the stream to nobody’s house I go.”
“I can’t understand why men make all this fuss about Everest — it’s only a mountain.” – Junko Tabei (the first women to summit Everest)
“Each fresh peak ascended teaches something.” – Sir Martin Conway.
“It’s not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves.” – Sir Edmund Hillary
“Those who travel to mountain-tops are half in love with themselves and half in love with oblivion.” – Robert MacFarlane
“Because in the end, you won’t remember the time you spent working in an office or mowing the lawn. Climb that goddamn mountain.” – Jack Kerouac
“Mountains are the beginning and the end of all natural scenery.” – John Ruskin
“Mountains have a way of dealing with overconfidence.” – Hermann Buhl
“The higher you climb on the mountain, the harder the wind blows.” – Sam Cummings
“Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wildness is a necessity.” – John Muir
“You need mountains, long staircases don’t make good hikers.” – Amit Kalantri
“Let’s not mince words: Everest doesn’t attract a whole lot of well-balanced folks. The self-selection process tends to weed out the cautious and the sensible in favor of those who are single-minded and incredibly driven. Which is a big reason the mountain is so dangerous.” – Jon Krakauer
“I love to sit on a mountain top and gaze. I don’t think of anything but the people I care about and the view.” – Julian Lennon
“May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds.” – Edward Abbey
“You must go on adventures to find out where you truly belong.” — Sue Fitzmaurice
“There is always an adventure waiting in the woods.” – Katelyn S. Bolds
“We don’t stop hiking because we grow old. We grow old because we stop hiking.” – Finis Mitchell
“Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.” — Anne Lamott
“Complete freedom is not what a trail offers. Quite the opposite; a trail is a tactful reduction of options.” – Robert Moor
“Hiking is the answer. Who cares what the question is.”
“If you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn’t lead anywhere.” – Frank A. Clark
“When everything feels like an uphill struggle, Just think of the view from the top.”
“Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“The best thing one can do when it’s raining is to let it rain.” – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
“I always wonder why birds stay in the same place when they can fly anywhere on the earth. Then I ask myself the same question.” – Harun Yahya
“I considered my options. There were only two and they were essentially the same. I could go back in the direction I had come from, or I could go forward in the direction I intended to go.” – Cheryl Strayed
“Getting to the top is optional. Getting down is mandatory.” – Ed Viesturs
“It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” – Confucius
“You need special shoes for hiking—and a bit of a special soul as well.” – Terri Guillemets
“There is no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing.” – Sir Rannulph Fiennes
“If you’re on the right path it will always be uphill” – Henry B. Eyring
“There are no shortcuts to any place worth going.” – Beverly Sills
“May your dreams be larger than mountains and may you have the courage to scale their summits” – Harley King
“The moment my legs begin to move, my thoughts begin to flow.” – Henry David Thoreau
“I was no longer following a trail. I was learning to follow myself.” – Aspen Matis
“Of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt.” – John Muir
“A walk in nature walks the soul back home.” – Mary Davis
“I found far more answers in the woods than I ever did in the city.” – Mary Davis
“My father considered a walk among the mountains as the equivalent of churchgoing.” – Aldous Huxley
“I took a walk in the woods and came out taller than trees.” – Henry David Thoreau
“If you face the rest of your life with the spirit you show on the trail, it will have no choice but to yield the same kind of memories and dreams.” – Adrienne Hall
“If everyone in the world took care of each other the way folks do out on the trail, and if everyone approached each day with as much hope and optimism as hikers do, the world would be a better place.” – Jon Tullis
“Hiking is not escapism; it’s realism. The people who choose to spend time outdoors are not running away from anything; we are returning to where we belong.” – Jennifer Pharr Davis
“You can’t find happiness at the end of your journey if you didn’t bring it with you all along.” – Katrina Mayer
“If we were meant to stay in one place, we’d have roots instead of feet.” — Rachel Wolchin
“I slow down when hiking. The rhythm of nature is more leisurely. The sun comes up, it moves across the sky, and you begin to synchronize to that rhythm.” – John Mackey
“To walk in nature is to witness a thousand miracles.” – Mary Davis
“In every walk with nature, one receives far more than he seeks.” – John Muir
Hiking Captions
These are a couple of our favourite captions about hiking from our lists of the best hiking captions and funny hiking captions.
- Hiking my own hike
- My mantra is: hike more worry less
- Taking things one step at a time
- This hike really peaked my interest
- Needed a change of altitude
- I don’t get it. The trail looked so flat on the map.
- I prefer the scenic route
- When life gives you mountains, put on your boots and hike
- So many hikes so little time
- Hiked it, liked it
- Step after step, mile after mile, day after day
- Living my hiking life
And there you have it. Quotes on hiking that fit every situation, picture and post. Let us know if we missed one that we should add to the list!
We also have other lists of quotes and captions about hiking including mountain quotes, hiking captions for Instagram, climbing mountains quotes, funny hiking quotes, funny hiking captions, Walking Captions and Running Captions and trekking quotes. Check them out!
If you like spending time in the outdoors you might also like our camping quotes and fishing quotes.
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About the Author
Laynni Locke
Laynni has been sharing her travel adventures and day-to-day life on Routinely Nomadic social media for over 15 years and appreciates the importance of finding the perfect quote or caption to showcase those experiences. Putting her extensive writing and education background to good use, Laynni has become passionate about researching and curating comprehensive lists of all the best quotes and captions for every occasion.
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