The terms seem to be used interchangeably on quite a few web-sites and journey books. It becomes even a lot more perplexing when some providers offer their boots as ‘trekking boots’ and then carry on to state that they can be utilized on long hikes. And when is a stroll a trek and when is it a hike? It gets to be even additional confusing when the word trekking is used to refer to the ascent of a mountain, like Island Peak or Mera Peak in Nepal, both equally about 6000m and the two necessitating the use of technological climbing equipment. How can they be referred to as ‘trekking peaks?’
The time period ‘hiking’ is typically made use of to refer to day walks in pure surroundings, on clearly marked paths. It is carried out for leisure, recreation and the intent of physical exercise. A compact working day pack is made use of to carry water, light body weight fleece and snacks. In destinations these kinds of as Canada and New Zealand, the time period is typically utilised interchangeably with rambling, hill strolling or tramping.
‘Trekking’, by contrast is deemed to be a lot more demanding, addresses increased distances across varying terrains, and needs tenting in excess of night time and carrying weighty packs with meals, sleeping baggage and equipment. The phrase is in fact derived from the Afrikaans get the job done, trek, which arrives from the Dutch word, trecken, referring to a lengthy and arduous journey in excess of wide distances and normally, unchartered floor. It is generally related with the migration of persons across land from a person area to one more.
Does this imply then that if a day hike is tricky, around rough floor and by thick forest with no paths, that it is a trek? In Australia, they would call this bushwhacking, and in other places they simply call it stamping. When you visit the Mountain Gorilla in Rwanda or Uganda, it is a one day hike, but as a result of dense forest, around really uneven and hard terrain. No ponder there is so considerably confusion.
But allow us not close the confusion there. Anyone who has tried to consider out journey insurance plan to deal with their ‘trekking’ or ‘hiking’ vacation, will have found out that these functions are usually outlined as ‘hazardous pursuits’. In actuality, some insurance coverage firms even lump conditions like hiking and mountaineering together as as a result of they can be utilized interchangeably or are synonymous The there are other organizations who classify any hikes around an altitude of 2000m as mountaineering. Sorry Scotland, but it means that your popular peak, Ben Nevis (1352m), is not a mountain after all but only a trekking peak?
Most likely the ideal way to glimpse at it is that a trek is normally finished in excess of various days produced up of climbing, hill strolling, tramping and bushwhacking.
At the conclusion of the working day, does it actually issue? It is all about semantics and interpretation. The most important thing is that you appreciate it.