Walking & Hiking

[LondonIrishEwok]

Could someone please tell me, What's the difference between walking and hiking? 

[Nomad Jay]

To my mind, "hike" is a sub-set of "walk" with a cross-country connotation. Hiking takes place in a rural or wilderness-like area as opposed to urban or suburban streets or city parks and involves changes in elevation of at least 30 feet. Going further, there's "rucking" which is a walk or a hike carrying additional weight in a backpack with a specific pace in mind.

[zeroh13]

I think this is one of those things that everyone has a slightly different interpretation of.

 

For me, walking is what I do when I want to get from point A to point B. It almost always involves city streets and sidewalks. Hiking is what I do when I go to the local trail(s) and wander around enjoying nature. There's actually a few city parks around me with trails, so it's not necessarily a city vs rural thing. (Basically, sometimes you can find a bit of "wilderness" in the city.)

 

In addition, the term "backpacking" can be used when going on a multiple day hike.

[LondonIrishEwok]

I had a vague idea it was something to do with intensity.  Thanks guys.

[Lougher]

For me hikers usually hike in natural places like forest or mountain while walking can be done in concrete like roads.

[PinkNinja]

So to use a kind of cheesy definition that they tell us in training,

"Walking is about the destination; hiking is about the trip".

 

I agree that hiking involves trails, but I disagree about the elevation change. I work in a park in the Mississippi River Delta. We have hiking trails even though it's flat.