Even the most dedicated hiker sometimes needs a little inspiration from time to time. These exploration and hiking quotes and words will inspire you to get out there and hit the trails.
1. “It’s not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves.”
— Sir Edmund Hillary
2. “I took a walk in the woods and came out taller than trees.”
— Henry David Thoreau
3. “Each fresh peak ascended teaches something.”
— Sir Martin Conway
4. “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.”
5. “Mountains have a way of dealing with overconfidence.”
— Hermann Buhl
6. “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
7. “Woods are not like other spaces. To begin with, they are cubic. Their trees surround you, loom over you, press in from all sides. Woods choke off views leave you muddled & without bearings. They make you feel small & confused & vulnerable, like a small child lost in a crowd of strange legs. Stand in a desert or prairie & you know you are in a big space. Stand in the woods and you only sense it. They are vast, featureless nowhere. And they are alive.”
― Bill Bryson
8. “Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees.”
— John Muir
9. “The mountains are calling and I must go.”
— John Muir
10. “Of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt.”
— John Muir
12. “Somewhere between the bottom of the climb and the summit is the answer to the mystery why we climb.”
— Greg Child
13. “A walk in nature walks the soul back home.”
— Mary Davis
15. “Those who travel to mountain tops are half in love with themselves and half in love with oblivion.”
― Robert Macfarlane
16. “Mountains are not fair or unfair, they are just dangerous.”
―Reinhold Messner
17. “I now walk into the wild.”
― Jon Krakauer
18. “Everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while you are climbing it.”
— Andy Rooney
19. “A man does not climb a mountain without bringing some of it away with him, and leaving something of himself upon it.”
― Martin Conway
20. “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
21. “You never climb the same mountain twice, not even in memory. Memory rebuilds the mountain, changes the weather, retells the jokes, remakes all the moves.”
― Lito Tejada-Flores
23. “Getting to the top is optional. Getting down is mandatory.”
― Ed Viesturs
24. “Great things are done when men and mountains meet.”
―William Blake
25. “I like being near the top of a mountain. One can’t get lost here.”
―Wislawa Szymborska
Andrea Davis
Andrea is a writer, hiker, and adventurer from New England. She enjoys snowboarding, sunrise hikes, winter, night hiking, traveling, and photography.
