Why do Gen-Z kids like to hike so much?

Perhaps hiking is the antidote to the rampant obesity plaguing society today.

It’s cheap, healthy, and entertaining.

And you gotta get out there and enjoy nature before it’s destroyed.

What other free entertainment is there anymore?

Sex, R3.

Young people have a herd mentality.

Once they see one group of cool kids doing it, then they all start to do it.

It's like some group of popular kids went hiking, then posted it on Instagram (or Facebook if you want to go further back). Then everyone started doing it. Selfies, selfies, and more selfies.

Plus, they also like to go to "extreme" places, so that people can comment on their photos and say "OMG that's SICK!" Pfft.

I'm suspicious of any 'trend' like this. I feel like there are some sports equipment company secretly behind it. It has happened many times before.

Sales of all outdoor equipment (sports and camping) went through the roof last year.

It could be that they don't have money for real vacations, but I suspect some marketing is also at play.

You type fat, OP.

[quote] Sales of all outdoor equipment (sports and camping) went through the roof last year.

What else was there to do?

Hiking is the only physical activity I actually enjoy - see nature!

Eating is way more fun than hiking. And I’ve never seen one goddamn television on a trail. Plus there’s no air conditioning.

Hiking is the avocado toast of exercise

As usual I was ahead of the curve, I'm an older millennial and I love hiking. I started in high school. It is the one type of exercise that doesn't feel like exercise. Plus, if you smoke up before hiking or take a pot vape pen with you, it is even better.

Young people have always hiked Only now, it is documented on social media. Being amazed by Gen-Z hiking is like a child who is amazed that the world actually was in color before color TV.

Millennials have been posting hiking photos for over a decade now on social media, so I guess they're just copying them.

I love bukakke hiking!

I want to go hiking with this guy...

This isn't new, Gen Xers liked hiking too, it's only the millennials that are afraid of everything.

R4 It is definitely not free if you are ugly.

Such an odd complaint. Maybe Gen-Z's parents didn't tell them to stop staring at a screen and go outside. So maybe Gen Z is rebelling by spending all day outside? I know as a millennial, I would sometimes get kicked out of the house and forced to play outside while the grown-ups could talk and have their space away from kids.

Everyone is hiking, fool! Not just Gen Z!

[quote] Such an odd complaint.

It's not really a complaint.

More of an observation.

Who the hell complains about hiking? How do you feel about breathing, OP?

I find the obsession with younger generations to be so obnoxious. In the 90s, it was Gen X. In the 2000s, it was Millennials. Now, it's Gen Z. Newsflash, most people are simple and boring in every generation and just trying to get by and teenagers have always been annoying and cocky. The real power is held in the hands of a select few and I'm starting to think the powers-that-be manufactured these generational terms to distract and divide us.

I believe you've stated the exact same thing OVER AND OVER AND OVER again on every single generational thread, R23.

FYI. You're boring. You're obnoxious. And you're repetitive.

Get a motherfucking life, please!

R24 And how does that invalidate what I've been saying?

I don’t hike but I walk and at 65, I see a lot of people my age doing the same. It’s low impact and the mood elevating. Try it!

I've hiked for over 30 years, started hiking with my father when I was about 12. The things you see are incredible and often unexpected, but you have to be interested, tuned in to the wilderness, the shoreline, fields and woodlands and nature in general.

Once we were hiking through an open area of forest, trees spaced well apart, mossy areas, real Hobbit country. We stopped to rest for a while and sat on the trunk of a fallen tree.. After a while. we heard a sound in the distance. As it came closer and closer, we realized it was a squeaking sound. We sat very still.

Soon a veritable river of field mice came into view. I couldn't begin to guess how many - hundreds for sure. Finally they all passed by, and I said, "What was that all about?"

My father said "A mouse migration. They're going to an area with a better food supply."

It's for moments like this that I hike.

I think the movie, "Wild" kicked off the hiking/backpacking craze. Unfortunately it is getting crowded out there. The fires in the West have destroyed a lot of trails and there are more people into it. They are requiring permits in more and more locations. It is so dry in the PNW it feels like we will be combusting .