Top 50+ Positive Motivational Hiking Quotes

We’ve scoured through all of the hiking quotes and compiled a list of only the best positive motivational hiking quotes. Whether you are looking for Instagram captions, inspirational quotes, or to inspire your next trip, look no further. We’ve got you covered.

While this list is shorter than most, I did so intentionally. When I need a quote, I like to find it quickly, and with all of the long lists out there, it takes me forever to find one! Without further ado, here are, quite literally, the best positive motivational hiking quotes.

Get inspired for your next hiking adventure!
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Best Positive Motivational Hiking Quotes

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

2. “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” — Henry David Thoreau

3. “Because in the end, you won’t remember the time you spent working in an office or mowing the lawn. Climb that goddamn mountain.” — Jack Kerouac

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

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

6. “The woods are lovely, dark, and deep. But I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep.” — Robert Frost

7. “Look deep into nature and you will understand everything better.” —Albert Einstein

8. “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

9. “You’re off to great places, today is your day. Your mountain is waiting, so get on your way.” – Dr. Seuss

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

11. “Now I see the secret of making the best person, it is to grow in the open air and to eat and sleep with the earth.” — Walt Whitman

12. “No bird soars to high if he soars with his own wings.” – William Blake

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

14. “It’s not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves.” — Sir Edmund Hillary

15. “Be Brave. Take Risks. Nothing Can Substitute Experience.” – Paulo Coelho

16. “Real adventure is defined best as a journey from which you may not come back alive, and certainly not as the same person.” – Yvon Chouinard

17. “Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit, and as vital to our lives as water and good bread.” — Edward Abbey

18. “Without new experiences, something inside us sleeps. The sleeper must awaken.” – Frank Herbert

19. “A path is a prior interpretation of the best way to traverse a landscape.” – Rebecca Solnit

20. “It’s a dangerous business, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.”– J.R.R Tolkien

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

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

23. “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

24. “There is no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing.” — Sir Ranulph Fiennes

25. “Let us then, be up and doing.” – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

26. “The passion to explore is at the heart of being human.” – Carl Sagan

27. “In life, it’s not where you go, it’s who you travel with.” – Charles Schulz

28. “Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter.” — Izaak Walton

29. “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.” — Helen Keller

30. “A journey is like marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it.” – John Steinbeck

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

32. “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

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

34. “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

35. The best view comes after the hardest climb.

36. “Often, bumpy roads lead to beautiful places.” – Dave Martinez

37. “Somewhere between the bottom of the climb and the summit is the answer to the mystery why we climb.”– Greg Child

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

39. “Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wildness is a necessity.” — John Muir

40. “Everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while you are climbing it.” — Andy Rooney

41. “After a day’s walk, everything has twice its usual value.” — G.M. Trevelyan

42. “Walking: the most ancient exercise and still the best modern exercise.” – Carrie Latet

43. “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

44. “Do the difficult things while they are easy and do the great things while they are small. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” – Lao Tzu

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

46. “In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous.” — Aristotle

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

48. “You need special shoes for hiking…and a bit of a special soul as well.” — Unknown

49. “Fresh air and muddy boots make everything better.” — Unknown

50. “The best thing one can do when it’s raining is to let it rain.” – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

51. “May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds.” — Edward Abbey

52. “If you think you’ve peaked, find a new mountain.” — Unknown

53. “You need mountains. Long staircases don’t make good hikers.” — Amit Kalantri

54. “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. Climb the mountains and get their good tidings, Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The wind will blow their own freshness into you and the storms their energy while cares will drop off like autumn leaves. As age comes on one source of enjoyment after another is closed but nature’s sources never fail.” – John Muir

55. “When everything feels like an uphill struggle, just think of the view from the top.” — Unknown

56. “Within National Parks is room — glorious room — room in which to find ourselves, in which to think and hope, to dream and plan, to rest and resolve.”
— Enos Mills

57. “A long walk, is a good walk.” – Unknown

58. “Sleeping bags are the soft tacos of the bear world.” – Bears

59. “It feels good to be lost in the right direction.” — Unknown

60. “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.”

61. “A Crude Meal, No Doubt, But The Best Of All Sauces Is Hunger.” – Edward Abbey

62. “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

63. “There are two kinds of climbers: those who climb because their heart sings when they’re in the mountains, and all the rest.” — Alex Lowe

64. “Going for a leisurely walk in the forest feels like getting a big ol’ hug from Mother Nature.” – Jamie Erwine

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

66. “The clearest way into the universe is through a forest wilderness.” — John Muir

67. “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

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I hope that this list of positive motivational hiking quotes & captions has inspired you to immerse yourself in the wilderness a little more often. It’s so good for the soul.

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