John Muir quote on hiking

John Muir quote:

Hiking – “I don’t like either the word or the thing. People ought to saunter in the mountains – not hike! Do you know the origin of that word ‘saunter?’ It’s a beautiful word. Away back in the Middle Ages people used to go on pilgrimages to the Holy Land, and when people in the villages through which they passed asked where they were going, they would reply, ‘A la sainte terre,’ ‘To the Holy Land.’ And so they became known as sainte-terre-ers or saunterers. Now these mountains are our Holy Land, and we ought to saunter through them reverently, not ‘hike’ through them.”

John Muir
John Muir

John Muir quote on hiking: “I don’t like either the… sources:

Portrait taken circa 1902 – John Muir, full-length portrait, facing right, seated on rock with lake and trees in background. Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/95514008/> / The Mountain Trail and Its Message by Albert Wentworth Palmer

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Please click here for a John Muir quote on falling in love with nature.