As in all of life, hiking and backpacking have their conundrums and ironies.

We as hikers and backpackers love the outdoors and we want to preserve the environment, but there are aspects of hiking and backpacking that are detrimental to the very environment we seek to preserve.

A problem that we as green and responsible wilderness visitors run up against is harmful chemicals in hiking equipment and clothing. To wit: PFOA, and that stands for perfluorooctanic acid.

Used for waterproofing of both leather and fabric clothing (source), this chemical is carcinogenic and non-biodegradable. It is used widely by manufacturers of outdoor clothing as a water repellant.

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Outdoors and Hiking Tips

Many people advocate doing stretches before starting a hike. But, the benefits of stretching before exercising are in dispute. Not all experts agree that it is beneficial. Stretching done improperly, can even cause injury.

On the other hand, I have never run across any controversy over warming up your muscles before beginning intense physical exercise. The benefits are impressive.

BENEFITS OF PRE-HIKING WARMUPS

Elizabeth Quinn, M.S., exercise physiologist, gives these benefits of warming up before exercise:

1. Increased blood flow to your muscles;

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Come forth into the light of things. Let Nature be your teacher. ~ William Wordsworth

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Outdoors and Hiking Tips

What’s the highest state in the United States?

Well, it’s Alaska with the highest geographic point, the summit of Mt. McKinley (aka Denali) at 20,320 feet in elevation.

No, wait. It’s Colorado with the highest mean elevation of 6,800 feet.

Or is it California with the greatest elevation difference between its highest and lowest points? There is an elevation difference of 14,787 feet between this state’s highest point, Mt. Whitney (14,505 feet), and its lowest point, Badwater Basin (-282 feet) in the Death Valley National Park. Interestingly, these extreme points are in sight of each with a mere 76 road miles separating the two.

As you can see, there are three ways to express which of the 50 states is the highest.

Let’s leave Alaska out of this discussion and talk about California and Colorado for a moment. We’ll discuss Alaska more in detail at another time.

Even though California has Mt. Whitney, the highest peak in the contiguous states, Colorado trumps California for high peaks overall. Let me give you a little idea of what I mean. Colorado has three mountains that are higher than California’s second highest mountain, Mt. Williamson (14,389). These Colorado hefties are Mt. Elbert (14,440 feet), Mt. Massive (14,428 feet) and Mt. Harvard (14,427 feet). Did you notice the interesting fact that Colorado’s second and third peaks are only one foot apart in elevation?

Colorado claims no less than 11 mountains that are lower than California’s second highest peak but higher than her third highest peak, White Mountain Peak. Colorado also boasts 22 peaks over 14,000 feet in elevation. Compare this to California’s five.

Well, we don’t have time or room for any further comparisons of these two beautiful states at this point, but we can say this: they both offer great trails to hike and beautiful and challenging peaks to climb. I can give testimony to this claim because I have hiked in both of these mountainous states.

by Richard Davidian, Ph.D.

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