You started off just taking nice walks in the great outdoors and realised what a great past time it was, slowly over time your walks became harder, longer, camping over night, then you brought hiking ‘gear’ and all of a sudden you think about hiking a lot!
Are any of the below signs familiar to you? If so we’d say that your love for hiking has definitely stepped a gear and you are truly a seasoned walker!
1.You keep a backpack, tent and walking shoes in the boot of your car...just incase.
It makes sense right? You never know when you might stumble across a new trail or get a call from a friend who wants a trip, so keeping a loaded backpack ready and waiting just cuts time and means you can say yes more often!
2.Most of your internet browsing involves shopping for walking gear or looking for new destinations to go hiking
Internet shopping now means searching the web for new hiking gear, finding the clothes that are going to make your trip more enjoyable and finding new gadgets and tools that are total essentials, obviously.
Social media visits are now to look at travelling pages and plan out the places in the world that you want to hike. Your love for hiking takes priority.
3.You are an expert at packing a backpack to fit the maximum number of items possible in, at top speed
Whether you roll or fold, you’ve become excellent at fitting everything you could posibly need into your backpack at record speed since you’ve done it so many times before.
4.Your wardrobe consists of walking gear, waterproofs, fleeces and merino wool socks
Gone are the days of having a million different going out outfits, 25 pairs of jeans and so on, your wardrobe is now far more practical than that housing all of your precious hiking gear that make your trips so enjoyable.
5.You’d rather spend £200 on a tent than £100 on a hotel room
Why would you spend all of that cash on one night in a pokey hotel room when you could spend just a little bit more and upgrade your beloved tent that you could use time and time again?
6.When you move to a new place, you have no clue where the post office is, but know where the nearest trails are
You’ve likely either already done some of the trails or have extensively researched them before you’ve arrived. Heading somewhere new means new and exciting ground to discover, who cares about the Post Office we can google its where abouts right?!
7.You realise that you think the people who don’t backpack are just a little bit odd
Why on earth wouldn’t you want to head out doors and go on an adventure during EVERY possible bit of spare time you have? To be fair most people probably think your exreme love for hiking is a bit odd too, but who cares.
8.You use your backpack to carry your food shop home
Its totally normal for you to take your backpack with you to the supermarket rather than a million reusable bags, you are so familiar with it and carrying stuff home in a backpack is far easier than negotiating shopping bags.
9.You wonder if the meal you are eating can be dehydrated effectively
You can’t just enjoy your dinner anymore because your mind is always wondering whether it could be dehydrated and paked for your next trip! A meal that can be reused in this way is far more enjoyable in your eyes.
10.You pack a rain jacket on a sunny day JUST IN CASE
Every walker knows that even if the sun is shining when you leave the house you always pack a rain coat just in case, if the weather turns there isn’t much worse than being soggy all day whilst hiking. Your love for hiking is so strong that you just can’t leave the house without that rain coat, even for a quick trip to the shop up the road, it just wouldn’t feel right.