Since my childhood I always preferred to play outside in the woods rather than to play football, I always wanted to make a tree fortress and I also managed to make one. It was not necessary in the mountains, however, I always enjoyed hiking, walking and nature in general and I never really cared, where I was going.

While I cannot really tell what mountains mean to me, as I do not think that I have ever climbed a really high one, I know what hiking, and nature means to me, and I also think that mountains have much in common. What is so captivating about woods, mountains, and nature? For me, it always seemed like an escape. Escape from anything that I wanted to escape. It was an opportunity for me to be alone and just enjoy the nature around me.

It seems to me that nowadays people tend to forget how beautiful things around us are. For most of us, it is just our everyday routine. Work or school or school and work and nothing else. That is why I think it is great to sometimes just turn off and go on a hike and I feel like I am much more aware of nature when I am hiking alone.

However, if I am on a hike then it is not only nature that I am more aware of. If it is a really long and demanding hike, then I am being more aware of myself as a human being, of what I can and cannot do and I think this is pretty much what draws so many people into mountains. That challenge you want to go through to prove to yourself that you CAN actually do it. That is why I also like and agree with this quote by Edmund Hillary “It is not the mountains we conquer, but ourselves”. In my opinion, it is usually not about the mountain, but about yourself. While long-distance and mountain hiking is demanding, it is always you that you have to fight the most and that is what is so enjoyable about it. Not many things feel so good as challenging yourself and winning. And if you learn that you cannot do it this time, then you know you have something to work on.

Because next time, you ARE going to win!