Why do I like hiking?

Today I hiked the Mountain Lion Trail in Golden Gate Canyon for the first time this year. There was only one car at the Rifleman Phillips trailhead parking lot. Although it had snowed just two days earlier, I saw almost no trace of snow left on the trail. In total, I hiked ten miles, combining the Mountain Lion and Buffalo trails.

Why do I like hiking? A healthcare professional can give a long list of physical benefits. To me, its benefit is more mental than physical.

While hiking, I exist fully in my body. My legs must keep moving; my arms swing the hiking poles; my eyes stay alert for uneven rocks, occasionally lifting toward the trees. I no longer consciously think. Or rather, my active mind recedes backstage. Thoughts still come and go, but they are only shadows of thoughts — not fully formed in language, whether in English, Mandarin, or even my native tongue. They simply exist, like currents beneath the mirror-like surface of a lake.

Occasionally, a clear thought emerges, but it never lasts. It rises and disappears like a bubble reaching the surface. Just as the Diamond Sutra says: “一切有为法，如露亦如电” — all conditioned phenomena are like dew, like lightning.

Perhaps it is more accurate to say that hiking allows me to escape the harassment of my own mind — a kind of stepping out of mind itself.