Urban Hiking Q&A

What is Urban Hiking?

Urban hiking is doing long walks in an urban environment. It combines physical exercise with pleasure.

In urban hiking you explore places of interest in a city, and discover new ones. You familiarize yourself with a city during one to several hours of walking, and you enjoy the adventure and satisfaction of doing so. You do it mostly during daylight hours, but it can also be done at night if you go to the city's nightlife areas, where night hiking is interesting, or even prefered.

Why do it?

Urban hiking is typically easier, safer, nearer, more accessible, and much more flexible, than hiking along nature trails. It is also more interesting and more enjoyable than walking on a treadmill at your home, hotel, or gymnasium. It's not a chore, it's fun. You can do it alone, with a friend, with your child, or in a group.

And it's good for your health and fitness. You don't have to make a conscious effort to walk faster than normal. Just walk. If you will walk alone then you will walk at your optimal pace. My Sportractive GPS-tracking fitness application measured my average walking speed along a 15 miles (25 km) city route on a cool sunny day at 3.2 mph (5.2 kmh). Just walk and enjoy it. Your body will burn the calories along the way.

What to wear

Clothes - wear clothes suitable for the weather and plan to take some off when you'll warm up from the walking. In warm or hot weather, a plain cotton T-shirt may be enough, but in colder weather, you should dress properly. The color of your clothes is typically irrelevant, but under a blazing sun you will actually fill the heat difference between wearing sunlight-absorbing black or wearing light-colored clothes. And at night it's safer to be seen by drivers and cyclists. So in those conditions, avoid wearing black.

Footwear - even a very short urban hike of walking just one mile and back equals thousands of steps, typically on hard pavement. That requires, above all, high quality shock-absorbing footwear with a good safe grip of the foot. Depending on the weather, you can wear shoes, waterproof shoes, boots, or sandals, as long as they're suitable for the task.

There is a wide selection of excellent shoes suitable for urban hiking. My current hiking shoes for cold or wet weather are the Men's Expeditor Ridge 2.0 shoes by Berghaus, which makes outdoor clothing and equipment since the 1960s. They are correctly described as "excellent all round walking boot .. lightweight and comfortable .. shock absorbing EVA mid-soles for underfoot cushioning .. waterproof lining .. breathable .. will keep your feet dry".

There is a model of these shoes for women that weighs 17% less.

 

For any other weather, from cool to hot, my personal favorite for many years are the Gobi sandals by Source, which specialize in making high quality sandals since the 1990s. I love these, and due to the mileage I do with them I buy a new pair every 18 months to keep them as good as new. They are very comfortable and with excellent shock absorption. I walked on hard pavement up to 20 miles (32 km) in one hike with them without any problem.

There is a model of these sandals for women that weighs 21% less.

What to take?

Urban hiking is so much more flexible than hiking along nature trails that most essential items may become optional, depending on the specific hike plan, its duration, time of day, weather, location, etc. Plan propertly, and take just what you need.

• Phone - your modern phone is the one item that is a must-have. Download a detailed offline map of the city before you go. Your phone is also your map, compass, GPS location finder, flashlight, camera, and travel guide book.

• Power Bank - if you're hiking for hours in an interesting foreign city and enjoying it, then your phone would likely consume more power than usual, and you may need a portable charger to charge it without having to stop walking.

• Water - either carry enough to stay hydrated given the distance and the weather, or be sure that you'd be able to get or buy clean water along the route.

• Food - either carry or buy along the route. The obvious recommendation is to take something with high nutrition and energy content which is not sticky or messy, like energy bars. If you decide to buy something to eat along the way then enjoy yourself, find the best the city has to offer along your route. You burned a lot of calories, so you deserve tasty new ones.

• Backpack - unless you carry everything in your pockets, take a backpack. Don't walk miles holding something in your hand.

• Restroom - plan your hiking route so that you'll find one when needed.

• Hat - wear a hat or some other adequate head cover for sun protection.

• Entertainment - if you hike alone for hours, you'd likely want to listen to something while walking. In addition to the possibilities provided by modern phones, I prefer using a small MP3 player with a clip to attach it to my shirt or sweater. I recommend the SanDisk Clip Sport Go which I'm using for years. Although I listen daily, it takes me months to listen to all the audiobooks I load into it before I need to load new ones.

• Other items: sunglasses, sunscreen, or folding umbrella, scarf, gloves, wool hat, and also personal identification, money, public transport card, and more. If you might need it, then take it.

Safety

Stay safe.

• Avoid danger - there are many reasons, ranging from unpleasant harassment to potential death, to avoid some areas. You should be at least generally informed about the city or area where you intend to hike, and know in advance which areas should be avoided. Some areas should be avoided at some hours, e.g. after dark, or at some special dates. Some areas may have turned into a construction site with signs warning pedestrians to go around. Obey the warnings, there are alternative safe routes.

• Types of paths - a promenade is better than a sidewalk. A sidewalk separated from the motor traffic by some barrier or by a line of parked vehicles is safer than a sidewalk with no barrier. A wide sidewalk is safer than a narrow one. Avoid walking along the margin of the road itself.

• Which side or the road - if you're on a street with sidewalks at both sides of the road and with no barrier, then prefer walking against the direction of the traffic in the lane nearer to you. In most countries it means walking on the left sidewalk.

• Stay aware - don't be too absorded in the music, the map, or the views. Remain aware of the traffic, the people around you, the pavement ahead. It's OK, actually it's highly recommended, to stop walking while you read something from your phone for longer than a moment.

• Traffic - use crosswalks where possible, obey traffic lights. Mind the traffic.

• Effort - listen to your body in case it 'signals' a problem. If your body signals 'red' to you, repsond immediately. Hiking is supposed to be a fun and healthy exercise. If it's not, then you must handle the problem. You may need to just slow down, or drink more water, or even stop the hike and return by public transportation, but do not ignore warnings.

• Topography - maps are flat, some cities are not. It may be a continuous ascent or a steep slope, but when planning your route remember that going uphill is significant in terms of time and effort. Do not avoid them, but plan accordingly.

• Elevation - a few cities are high enough above sea level that the thin air becomes a factor in making physical efforts, for example Quito, Ecuador, at 9350 ft (2850 m) above sea level. If you plan to hike at an elevation much higher than usual then plan accordingly, reduce the effort and focus on exploration rather than on physical exercise.

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