106 Hiking Captions and Quotes Celebrating the Joys of Exploring the Nature

Hiking is an adventure that offers a sense of freedom, wonder, and connection with nature that is hard to find elsewhere. It’s a chance to escape the hustle and bustle of everyday life and immerse ourselves in the beauty and solitude of the great outdoors.

With every step, we feel a sense of accomplishment, as we conquer the challenges of the trail and push ourselves beyond our limits.

In this collection of hiking captions and quotes, we celebrate the joys and challenges of exploring the great outdoors, and the lessons we learn along the way.

1. “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

2. “Hiking is not escapism; it’s realism. The people who choose to spend time outdoors are not running away from anything; we are returning to where we belong.” — Jennifer Pharr Davis

3. “And into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul.” — John Muir

4. “The climb speaks to our character, but the view, I think, to our souls.” — Lori Lansens

5. “Walk away quietly in any direction and taste the freedom of the mountaineer.” — John Muir

6. “My father considered a walk among the mountains as the equivalent of church going.” — Aldous Huxley

7. “The trail leads not merely north and south, but up to the body, mind, and soul of man.” — Harold Allen

8. “To walk in nature is to witness a thousand miracles.” — Mary Davis

9. “I took a walk in the woods and came out taller than trees.” — Henry David Thoreau

10. “The mountains whisper for me to wander; my soul hikes to the call.” — Angie Weiland-Crosby

11. “Happiness and hiking go hand in hand or foot in boot.” — Diane Spicer

12. “Trails are routes to remembrance just as they are routes to knowledge.” — T.P. Lye

13. “Of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt.” — John Muir

14. “All truly great thoughts are conceived by walking.” — Friedrich Nietzsche

15. “Where the heart loves, there the legs walk.” — Maltese Proverb

16. “You need special shoes for hiking – and a bit of a special soul as well.” — Terri Guillemets

17. “Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

18. “Hiking and happiness go hand in hand (or foot in boot).” — Diane Spicer

19. “Pursue some path, however narrow and crooked, in which you can walk with love and reverence.” — Henry David Thoreau

20. “I am convinced that the jealous, the angry, the bitter and the egotistical are the first to race to the top of mountains. A confident person enjoys the journey, the people they meet along the way and sees life not as a competition.” — Shannon L. Alder

21. “You can visit the same trail twice, but you’ll never take the same hike twice.”

22. “In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.” — John Muir

23. “The moment my legs begin to move, my thoughts begin to flow.” — Henry David Thoreau

24. “Not all who wander are lost.” — JRR Tolkien

25. “Hiking is a bit like life: The journey only requires you to put one foot in front of the other…again and again and again. And if you allow yourself the opportunity to be present throughout the entirety of the trek, you will witness beauty every step of the way, not just at the summit.”

26. “It’s impossible to walk in the woods and be in a bad mood at the same time.”

27. “When we walk into a grove of trees or under an open sky the magic of nature takes over and the heaviness of life lifts a little.” — Natassia Cassinero

28. “I love hiking because it clears your mind, enriches the soul, takes away the stress, and opens up your eyes to a whole new world.” — Claudette Dudley

29. “I felt my lungs inflate with the onrush of scenery – air, mountains, trees, people. I thought, ‘This is what it is to be happy’.” — Sylvia Plath

30. “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

31. “I go to nature to be soothed and healed and to have my sense put in order.” — John Burroughs

32. “We don’t stop hiking because we grow old. We grow old because we stop hiking.” — Finis Mitchell

33. “We live in a fast-paced society. Walking slows us down.” — Robert Sweetgall

34. “On a hike, the days pass with the wind, the sun, the stars; movement is powered by a belly full of food and water, not a noxious tankful of fossil fuels. On a hike, you’re less a job title and more a human being. A periodic hike not only stretches the limbs but also reminds us: Wow, there’s a big old world out there.” — Ken Ilgunas

35. “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

36. “Go out, go out I beg of you and taste the beauty of the wild. Behold the miracle of the earth with all the wonder of a child.” — Edna Jaques

37. “Mountain hikes instilled in me a life-long urge to get to the top of any inviting summit or peak.” — Paul D. Boyer

38. “Walking: the most ancient exercise and still the best modern exercise.” — Carrie Latet

39. “When you’re hiking, there’s no room for anything but the task at hand.” — Bill Bryson

40. “Hiking is not escapism; it’s realism. The people who choose to spend time outdoors are not running away from anything; we are returning to where we belong.” — Jennifer Pharr Davis 

41. “You have to hike up the mountain path to reach the summit. Thinking won’t get you there.” — Marty Rubin

42. “The world reveals itself to those who travel on foot.” — Werner Herzog

43. “Over every mountain, there is a path, although it may not be seen from the valley.” — Theodore Roethke

44. “Each fresh peak ascended teaches something.” — Sir Martin Convay

45. “An early-morning walk is a blessing for the whole day.” — Henry David Thoreau

46. “Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time.” — Steven Wright 

47. “I know I can’t own a hilltop, a meadow, or a mountainside. But keeping it a secret somehow makes it mine.” — Joyce Rachelle

48. “When life gives you Mountains, put on your boots and hike.”

49. “If you are seeking creative ideas, go out walking. Angels whisper to a man when he goes for a walk.” — Raymond Inmon

50. “Life sucks a lot less when you add mountain air, a campfire and some peace and quiet.” — Brooke Hampton

51. “I was no longer following a trail. I was learning to follow myself.” — Aspen Matis

52. “We move through this world on paths laid down long before we are born.” — Robert Moor

53. “Wilderness is not a luxury, but a necessity of the human spirit.” — Edward Abbey

54. “Go outside. Don’t tell anyone and don’t bring your phone. Start walking and keep walking until you no longer know the road like the palm of your hand, because we walk the same roads day in and day out, to the bus and back home and we cease to see.” — Charlotte Eriksson

55. “Walk away quietly in any direction and taste the freedom of the mountaineer. Camp out among the grasses and gentians of glacial meadows, in craggy garden nooks full of nature’s darlings.” — John Muir

56. “In the woods we return to reason and faith.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

57. “I slow down when hiking. The rhythm of nature is more leisurely. The sun comes up, it moves across the sky, and you begin to synchronize to that rhythm.” — John Mackey

58. “Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

59. “I found far more answers in the woods than I ever did in the city.” — Mary Davis

60. “Between every two pines there is a doorway to a new world.” — John Muir

61. “For hiking is one of those things that you can only do when you have the determination in you.”

62. “Remember to look up to the stars, not down to your feet.” — Stephen Hawking

63. “Remember to turn everything off once a week including your brain and walk somewhere quiet.”

64. “If you find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn’t lead anywhere.” — Frank A. Clark

65. “Nature is painting for us, day after day, pictures of infinite beauty if only we have the eyes to see them.” — John Ruskin

66. “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” — Lao Tzu

67. “Hike More. Worry Less.”

68. “If the path be beautiful, let us not ask where it leads.” — Anatole France

69. “Leave the roads, take the trails”

70. “The best view comes after the hardest climb.”

71. “If you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn’t lead anywhere.” — Frank A. Clark

72. “If you’re on the right path it will always be uphill.” — Henry B. Eyring

73. “Where the signposts end, the trail begins.” — Marty Rubin

74. “Life is better in hiking boots.”

75. “Hike your own hike.” — Ben Crawford

76. “Take only memories, leave only footprints.”

77. “Hiking: the ability to turn an excuse into an accomplishment.”

78. “Living all my dreams on the hiking trail.”

79. “Leave the roads, take the trails.”

80. “Hiking’s not for everyone. Notice the wilderness is mostly empty.” — Sonja Yoerg

81. “I know I hike like a girl, try to keep up.”

82. “Nature is not a place to visit. It is home.” — Gary Snyder

83. “Walking is a man’s best medicine.” — Hippocrates

84. “Happiness walks on busy feet.” — Kitte Turmell

85. “Each fresh peak ascended teaches something.” — Sir Martin Conway

86. “It’s easier to go down a hill than up it but the view is much better at the top.” — Henry Ward Beecher

87. “I have two doctors, my left leg and my right.” — G.M. Trevelyan

88. “The earth has music for those who listen.” — Shakespeare

89. “After a day’s walk, everything has twice its usual value.” — George Macauley Trevelyan

90. “You need mountains, long staircases don’t make good hikers.” — Amit Kalantri

91. “Hiking is not just exercise; it’s therapy for the soul.”

92. “I could never resist the call of the trail.” — Buffalo Bill

93. “Walking: the great adventure, the great affair, the infinite pleasure.” — Gary Snyder

94. “This trail isn’t as flat as it looked on the map.”

95. “There’s nothing but a fine line between ‘hell’ and ‘hill’.”

96. “Hiking is the answer. Who cares what the question is.”

97. “You need to change your altitude.”

98. “Fact: Hiking is actually just walking, only on dirt or rocks or other uneven surfaces. Or walking where an animal larger than you can kill and eat you.”

99. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned from hiking, it’s that the early bird gets the face full of spider webs.”

100. “If you think you’ve peaked, find a new mountain.”

101. “Always hike with someone in worse shape than you. The bears out there will know.” 

102. “DEET is nature’s cologne.” — Every Hiker

103. “If the winter is too cold and the summer is too hot, you are not a hiker.”

104. “Never follow someone else’s path unless you’re in the woods and you’re lost, and you see a path. By all means, you should follow that.” — Ellen Degeneres

105. “My grandmother started walking five miles a day when she was sixty. She’s ninety-seven now, and we don’t know where the hell she is.” — Ellen Degeneres

106. “Hiking: the art of slowly walking uphill while being simultaneously happy and miserable.”