the target

The goal

What is the goal of hiking? The answer seems simple: the journey is the destination!
Ever since the Romantic era, people have hiked for pleasure and not because they have to.
But of course you can have many goals when hiking.
General goals or motivations (in the truest sense of the word):
I want to get some exercise in the fresh air. I want to socialize with my fellow hikers.
I want to enjoy exciting landscape experiences (rocks, mountains, views).
I want to drink a reward beer. This list can be extended at will.

A man in a plaid shirt drinks from a can, overlooking a river and hilly landscape.

But of course there are also very specific goals when hiking. A distinction must be made between a circular hiking trail and a long-distance hike.In principle, a circular hiking trail (by the way, the most popular form of hiking by far, as hiking researchers have discovered) the incarnation of the motto "The journey is the reward". Because I walk, hike, picnic and at the end of the day (or half a day) I am back at the starting point.

Pathway beside a calm river with lush trees and a clear sky

Strictly speaking, I shouldn't have started running at all. But of course I also have a specific a circular hiking trail: my starting point. I can't just stop after stop halfway through the trail. I definitely have to get back to where I started. To my bus stop, to my train station, to my car. And then you have to hope that the car hasn't had a rendezvous with a tree trunk in the time I've spent on my circular route. with a tree trunk. Something like that happened to me a few years ago on the Rhine.

A large tree branch has fallen onto two parked cars, causing visible damage.

The destination is defined somewhat differently on a long-distance hike. You can see this most clearly on the famous Way of St. James. Because there, the goal is the goal, not the path. You want to reach your pilgrimage destination - Santiago de Compostella. Pilgrims don't really care about the way there, many pilgrims even hate walking, see Hape Kerkeling. When I walk a stage on the DonAUwald hiking trail (for example), I also have a very specific goal in mind - my stage goal. Or, if I walk the entire route, the end point of my hiking trail. In other words, in addition to the trail, there is always a very specific destination when hiking, either my starting point or the stage finish on a long-distance hike. Hiking is very goal-oriented.

Road sign showing the end of Santiago city limits with a red diagonal line through the name.

A very special form of hiking is the out-and-back hike. Journalist Dirk Schümer introduced me to this form of hiking. We set off from a Black Forest hiking parking lot near Baden-Baden. And then it's always uphill - destination number one is the viewing tower on the Badener Höhe. When we reach the lookout tower, we take a selfie to prove that we've been there.

Two men outdoors, with one smiling and wearing glasses, standing near a stone tower surrounded by trees.

And then it's back the same way again. Dirk says this way he can rule out getting lost. I was initially skeptical as to whether such a hike would be fun. But I have to say: Yes, it is fun. After all, it's old hiking wisdom that a path, that if you walk it in the opposite direction, it reveals completely different sensory impressions and views. You're walking on the same path, but also on a different one. And when we returned to the Black Forest hiking parking lot, we had achieved three goals: Firstly, our interim destination, the turning point of the hike. Secondly, our final destination, the starting point. And thirdly, the hiking fun in between
the path was of course also the destination.

Direction signs for hiking trails, including Betende-Hände-Weg and Riedkopfrundweg, with various distances shown in a forested setting

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