We love trekking. It is on a trek that you can truly get away from real life and have your world shrunk down to the basics of sleeping, eating and walking. We have gathered the best trekking quotes including short quotes about trekking, mountain trekking quotes, mountaineering trekking quotes, trekking with friends quotes and short trekking quotes so that if you are looking for inspiration for your next trek or for the perfect trekking captions for Instagram we have you covered.
We quit our jobs over 10 years ago and have been travelling ever since. We have made it a point to seek out some of the best trekking around the world from Nepal to Europe to New Zealand, just to name a few. These are some of the quotes on trekking that spoke to us and reminded us of our favourite treks.
We have combined some of our favorite trekking quotes and favorite photos.
Find your favorite quote about trekking now!
Trekking Quotes
Here are one of our favorite trekking quotes to inspire you. They bring across the feeling that we get when we are on a trek.
“Trekking means a travelling experience with a thrilling excitement.”
– Amit Kalantri
“The world reveals itself to those who travel on foot”
― Werner Herzog
“Me thinks that the moment my legs begin to move, my thoughts begin to flow.”
– Henry David Thoreau
“I see my path, but I don’t know where it leads. Not knowing where I’m going is what inspires me to travel it.”
– Rosalia de Castro
“You need special shoes for hiking—and a bit of a special soul as well.”
– Terri Guillemets
Short Quotes About Trekking
Check out these short quotes about trekking. If you like short quotes check out our list of Best Short Quotes.
“There are no shortcuts to any place worth going.”
― Beverly Sills.
“You need mountains, long staircases don’t make good hikers.”
― Amit Kalantri, Wealth of Words
Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Mountain hikes instilled in me a life-long urge to get to the top of any inviting summit or peak.”
– Paul D. Boyer
“Mountains are the beginning and the end of all natural scenery.”
– John Ruskin
Mountain Trekking Quotes
Trekking in the mountains is when you really get away from civilization. We especially felt this on our treks in Nepal, Bhutan and Peru. These quotes for trekking in the mountains encapsulate that feeling of being surrounded by the mountains in the thin clear air and feeling so small in the grandeur of nature. If you like mountain trekking you might like our lists of Short Mountain Quotes, Inspirational Mountain Quotes, and Funny Mountain Quotes.
“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
“Every mountain has its soul… if the mountain does not accept you & you don’t submit to her will, she will destroy you.”
― Bernadette McDonald, Tomaz Humar
“I like being near the top of a mountain. One can’t get lost here.”
– Wislawa Szymborska
“The higher you climb on the mountain, the harder the wind blows.”
– Sam Cummings
“No matter how sophisticated you may be, a large granite mountain cannot be denied—it speaks in silence to the very core of your being.”
– Ansel Adams
“Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees.”
– John Muir
“Chasing angels or fleeing demons, go to the mountains.”
― Jeffrey Rasley, Bringing Progress to Paradise: What I Got from Giving to a Mountain Village in Nepal
“Feeling LOW? Go on mountains.”
― Prajakta Mhadnak
“Mountains are the cathedrals where I practice my religion.”
– Anatoli Boukreev
“Mountains make me believe that nothing can be bigger than nature, not even human ego.”
― Jay Kumar Singh
“Trekkers at high altitudes sometimes sense a person walking a few paces behind them, just out of sight. Often this person is dead. I never feel this, but once or twice I imagine someone walking a little ahead of me.”
― Colin Thubron, To a Mountain in Tibet
“A mountaintop is not simply an elevation, but an island, a world within a world, a place out of place.”
― Paul Gruchow
Mountaineering Trekking Quotes
Climbing mountains is a whole other level of trekking. It tests you and your resolve while being one of the more rewarding experiences. If you are looking for mountaineering trekking quotes these are our favourites. You might also like our lists of Mountain Top Quotes and Mountain View Quotes.
“It is the mountain that has been calling me, and it’s time to answer.”
― Susan Jagannath, Chasing Himalayan Dreams
“There are two kinds of climbers, those who climb because their heart sings when they’re in the mountains, and all the rest.”
– Alex Lowe
“Each fresh peak ascended teaches something.”
― Sir Martin Conway.
“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
“The experienced mountain climber is not intimidated by a mountain, he is inspired by it.”
– William Artur Ward
“As climbers thronged the scope of Everest, the Rupal Face retained its solitude, remaining a formidable oabjective.”
― Bernadette McDonald, Tomaz Humar
“Never measure the height of a mountain until you have reached the top. Then you will see how low it was.”
– Dag Hammarskjold
“When preparing to climb a mountain—pack a light heart.”
– Dan May
“Somewhere between the bottom of the climb and the summit is the answer to the mystery why we climb.”
– Greg Child
“Tomaz believed that 80% alpinism was mental and spiritual and that his third eye vision & openness of his mind to the language of the walls were critical”
― Bernadette McDonald, Tomaz Humar
“Nobody climbs mountains for scientific reasons. Science is used to raise money for the expeditions, but you really climb for the hell of it.”
– Sir Edmund Hillary
“Remember that time spent on a rock climb isn’t subtracted from your life span.”
– Will Niccolls
“Many climbers become writers because of the misconceptions about climbing.”
– Jonathan Waterman
Trekking with Friends Quotes
These trekking quotes with friends work well for Instagram or other social media. They may be friends that you started the trek with or friends that you made on the road but trekking with friends make the hike go faster and the shared memories are invaluable.
“Always hike with someone in worse shape than you.”
“Happiness is hiking with friends.”
“Never go on trips with anyone you do not love.”
“Let’s travel together and get lost in beautiful places.”
“In life, it’s not where you go, it’s who you travel with.”
– Charles Schulz.
“A journey is best measured in friends rather than miles.”
– Tim Cahill
“There is a whole world out there. Pack your backpack, your best friend, and go.”
“Good company in a journey makes the way seme shorter.”
– Izaak Walton
“It doesn’t matter where you’re going, it’s who you have beside you.”
“A good friend listens to your adventures. A best friend makes them with you.”
Captions on Trekking and Nature
You may want a caption for trekking pics that combines both trekking and nature. If so, this list is for you. You might also want to check out some of our other lists of quotes and captions about nature including waterfalls, sunsets, forests, rivers, lakes, trees, mountains, the sea and sunsets and sunrises.
“In every walk with nature, one receives far more than he seeks.”
– John Muir
“Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you.”
– Frank Lloyd Wright
“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
Short Trekking Captions
Choose one of the these short trekking quotes if you want to share your thoughts in a short and sweet caption.
“Mountains have a way of dealing with overconfidence.”
– Nemann Buhl
“Climbing is as close as we can come to flying.”
– Margaret Young
“It’s not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves.”
– Sir Edmund Hillary
“Hike Your Own Hike.”
“Getting to the top is optional. Getting down is mandatory.”
– Ed Viesturs
“After a day’s walk everything has twice its usual value.”
– George Macauley Trevelyan
“The mountains are calling and I must go.”
– John Muir
Long Distance Trekking Quotes
We have done a few long-distance treks including the Everest Base Camp & Annapurna Base Camp in Nepal, the Druk Path in Bhutan and the Rota Vicentina in Portugal as well as the Camino de Santiago Frances and Norte. Each time that we trek long enough to settle into the rhythm of daily hiking we realize that we want to do more. These quotes will help inspire you in your own long-distance treks.
“The long distance hiker, a breed set apart, from the likes of the usual pack. He’ll shoulder his gear, be hittin’ the trail; Long gone, long ‘fore he’ll be back.”
– M.J. Eberhart
“Never quit on a bad day.”
― Ben Crawford, 2,000 Miles Together
“Returning home is the most difficult part of long-distance hiking; You have grown outside the puzzle and your piece no longer fits.”
– Cindy Ross
“The trail was designed to have no end, a wild place on which to be comfortably lost for as long as one desired. In those early days nobody fathomed walking the thing from beginning to end in one go. Section hikes, yes. Day hikes, too. But losing yourself for five months, measuring your body against the earth, fingering the edge of mental and physical endurance, wasn’t the point. The trail was to be considered in sections, like a cow is divided into cuts of beef. Even if you sample every slice, to eat the entire beast in a single sitting was not the point. Before 1948, it wasn’t even considered possible.”
– Ben Montgomery
“Ignore the outside voices telling you you’re doing it wrong; there is no “wrong.” But also watch out for wanting to fit in so badly that you start hiking someone else’s hike”
― Ben Crawford, 2,000 Miles Together
“Anywhere is ‘within walking distance’.”
“Under gold clouds, he pushed the limits of my body, setting a faster pace—some days surpassing forty rugged miles, unstopping through morning’s thick peach haze; noon’s warmth; red evening sun.”
– Aspen Matis
“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” – Lao Tzu
“Within minutes my 115-mile walk through the desert hills becomes a thing apart, a disjunct reality on the far side of a bottomless abyss, immediately beyond physical recollection. But it’s all still there in my heart and soul. The walk, the hills, the sky, the solitary pain and pleasure—they will grow larger, sweeter, lovelier in the days to come, like a treasure found and then, voluntarily, surrendered. Returned to the mountains with my blessing. It leaves a golden glowing on the mind.”
– Edward Abbey
“I would walk 500 miles.” The Proclaimers
“It had nothing to do with gear or footwear or the backpacking fads or philosophies of any particular era or even with getting from point A to point B.It had to do with how it felt to be in the wild. With what it was like to walk for miles with no reason other than to witness the accumulation of trees and meadows, mountains and deserts, streams and rocks, rivers and grasses, sunrises and sunsets. The experience was powerful and fundamental. It seemed to me that it had always felt like this to be a human in the wild, and as long as the wild existed it would always feel this way.”
― Cheryl Strayed, Wild
“Jumping from boulder to boulder and never falling, with a heavy pack, is easier than it sounds; you just can’t fall when you get into the rhythm of the dance.”
― Jack Kerouac, The Dharma Bums
“The trail will only provide if you accept its offer. All of it. You must leave home. You must be broken. It will cost you your entire life as you know it. And then, and only then, can you receive. What you receive will be far greater than anything you had or anything you lost. It will change you. It might even heal you.”
― Ben Crawford, 2,000 Miles Together
“Within minutes my 115-mile walk through the desert hills becomes a thing apart, a disjunct reality on the far side of a bottomless abyss, immediately beyond physical recollection. But it’s all still there in my heart and soul. The walk, the hills, the sky, the solitary pain and pleasure—they will grow larger, sweeter, lovelier in the days to come, like a treasure found and then, voluntarily, surrendered. Returned to the mountains with my blessing. It leaves a golden glowing on the mind.”
― Edward Abbey, Beyond the Wall
“A significant fraction of thru-hikers reach Katahdin, then turn around and start back to Georgia. They just can’t stop walking, which kind of makes you wonder.”
― Bill Bryson, A Walk in the Woods
“None of your knowledge, your reading, your connections will be of any use here: two legs suffice, and big eyes to see with. Walk alone, across mountains or through forests. You are nobody to the hills or the thick boughs heavy with greenery. You are no longer a role, or a status, not even an individual, but a body, a body that feels sharp stones on the paths, the caress of long grass and the freshness of the wind. When you walk, the world has neither present nor future: nothing but the cycle of mornings and evenings. Always the same thing to do all day: walk. But the walker who marvels while walking (the blue of the rocks in a July evening light, the silvery green of olive leaves at noon, the violet morning hills) has no past, no plans, no experience. He has within him the eternal child. While walking I am but a simple gaze.”
― Frédéric Gros, A Philosophy of Walking
“How fabulous down was for those first minutes! Down, down, down I’d go until down too became impossible and punishing and so relentless that I’d pray for the trail to go back up. Going down, I realized was like taking hold of the loose strand of yarn on a sweater you’d just spent hours knitting and pulling it until the entire sweater unraveled into a pile of string. Hiking the PCT was the maddening effort of knitting that sweater and unraveling it over and over again. As if everything gained was inevitably lost.”
― Cheryl Strayed, Wild
“The old school of thought would have you believe that you’d be a fool to take on nature without arming yourself with every conceivable measure of safety and comfort under the sun. But that isn’t what being in nature is all about. Rather, it’s about feeling free, unbounded, shedding the distractions and barriers of our civilization—not bringing them with us.”
― Ryel Kestenbaum, The Ultralight Backpacker
“The long distance hiker, a breed set apart,
From the likes of the usual pack.
He’ll shoulder his gear, be hittin’ the trail;
Long gone, long ‘fore he’ll be back.”
― M.J. Eberhart
“Walking causes a repetitive, spontaneous poetry to rise naturally to the lips, words as simple as the sound of footsteps on the road. There also seems to be an echo of walking in the practice of two choruses singing a psalm in alternate verses, each on a single note, a practice that makes it possible to chant and listen by turns. Its main effect is one of repetition and alternation that St Ambrose compared to the sound of the sea: when a gentle surf is breaking quietly on the shore the regularity of the sound doesn’t break the silence, but structures it and renders it audible. Psalmody in the same way, in the to-and-fro of alternating responses, produces (Ambrose said) a happy tranquillity in the soul. The echoing chants, the ebb and flow of waves recall the alternating movement of walking legs: not to shatter but to make the world’s presence palpable and keep time with it. And just as Claudel said that sound renders silence accessible and useful, it ought to be said that walking renders presence accessible and useful.”
― Frédéric Gros, A Philosophy of Walking
Walking Quotes
Here are some great walking quotes for those long trekking days. Check out full our list of Walking Quotes.
“Walking gets the feet moving, the blood moving, the mind moving. And movement is life.” – Terri Guillemets
“Walking is man’s best medicine.” – Hippocrates
“If you are seeking creative ideas, go out walking. Angels whisper to a man when he goes for a walk.” – Raymond Inmon
“I love walking because it clears your mind, enriches the soul, takes away stress, and opens up your eyes to a whole new world.” – Claudette Dudley
“Hiking and happiness go hand in hand or foot in boot.” – Diane Spicer
“Walking brings me back to myself.” – Laurette Mortimer
“After a day’s walk, everything has twice its usual value.” – G.M. Trevelyan
“Everywhere is within walking distance if you have the time.” – Steven Wright
“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
“Walking is good for solving problems — it’s like the feet are little psychiatrists.” – Terri Guillemets
“He who limps is still walking.” – Stanislaw J. Lec
“Walking takes longer… than any other known form of locomotion except crawling. Thus it stretches time and prolongs life. Life is already too short to waste on speed.” – Edward Abbey
And that is the roundup of our favourite trekking quotes.
We also have other lists of quotes and captions on mountains, hiking quotes, hiking captions for Instagram, climbing mountains quotes, funny hiking quotes, and funny hiking captions. Check them out!
Let us know in the comments if there is a trekking quote that we missed and we will update the list.
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