Despite the hike being a personal endeavor, there was always time for conversing with others as we went up and down the mountain.

Philosophical Engineering

Often when we would hike, the weather was decent enough to attract more than the die-hard hikers who hike rain or shine. When we would cross paths or take breaks, there were always moments to share a good laugh or a good story with one another.

And often, the best conversations were with my friends and family. These conversations were always different than most of our “normal” conversations about safe topics such as the weather, sports, news, and our jobs. Because when we were all hiking, no one seemed to care about those things anymore.

We talked more about what I would call “game-related” topics.

My brother and I had this game we would often play where we would run to the top, beating both my dad and his girlfriend, so we could then take a picture of them as they came into view.

We would also race up the mountain as fast as we could against each other, in the brotherly spirit of friendly competition.

Hiking was about playing on the trail again. There was no “stick to the path.” There was no “get to the top in only one way, shape, or form.” It was about having fun, but not a reckless sort of fun. A fun with a set of rules to play by, but the operative word was still play. We still had to obey classical mechanical laws of physics. We couldn’t litter. We couldn’t just build a fire wherever we pleased and destroy the wildlife and surroundings.

It was just a game to play, where winning wasn’t always that important. There were personal goals, like my dad wanting to conquer all the four-thousand-foot peaks, but the game was just meant to be played.