When Best Wife and Pappy 12 are explaining our hike to someone they often respond that the hike sounds like tons of fun or what a blast. Neither of those fit. The past couple days we have been trying to figure out what words do fit. It's hard to describe why we want to walk all day. So far neither of us have wanted to quit. We both get up in the morning and are anxious to get moving.
A couple words that do seem to fit are exciting and simple pleasures. When on a tough uphill climb we both are excited to see what's on top. We are excited to see what our tent site will like for the night. We are excited to see if any of our hiking buddies will be there. We get excited when we know good views are ahead or when some rock feature (like the guillotine in the picture below) is coming up. None of these are earth shattering, but in the context of our adventure, are exciting.
We also feel great pleasure in so many small simple things: the sound of rushing water, a bright full moon, the glow of a campfire, vibrant wild flowers, good clean water out of a spring, level dirt paths, level tent sites, tall tall trees, the movement of chipmunks, accurate trail signs, wild berries (especially raspberries).
Lastly, we keep hiking because we are gratified as we overcome challenges. We feel rewarded at the end of each day by the progress we made.
Good for you guys! I agree with your description of simple pleasures. It's fun to see you hiking through sections I recently hiked. I was just at the guillotine last Autumn.
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