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7 Reasons to Join a Hiking Club

Consider the benefits of joining a hiking club, whether you are new to hiking or an experienced trekker:

1. Motivation Participating in a an orgnaized trekking group will motivate you to try new places, hike more often, and push yourself farther. You add another positive element to your experience when you are no longer just hiking for yourself, but hiking with a group. orange county hiking club on mount jacinto peak

2. Community Joining a club is a great way to meet people with the same passion for hiking that you hold so dear.

Friendships you form can last a lifetime and lead to more exciting hiking trips. Who knows? You may even find a new romance out on the trails!

3. Appreciation Through hiking organizations, you will gain a new appreciation of our outdoor lands.

The knowledge you get from more experienced hikers and the group will take you to places you might not have thought of going. You may find a new appreciation for wildlife, native plants, or even new hiking gear.

4. Stewardship Many hiking organizations offer volunteer services to preserve and protect the park lands and outdoor spaces that are the lifeblood of hikers. When a group of people get together with a common cause, amazing things happen.

Volunteering with your group can be a rewarding and fun group experience. Some of these volunteer programs can include:

Repairing and maintaining trails

Removing invasive or non-native plants

Controlling erosion problems

Cleaning up litter

Outreach to the community, such as leading at-risk youth in the outdoors

Fundraising events to benefit local parks and other organizations

5. Health Hiking is great for your health. In fact, it is a superb activity for mind, body, and spirit. Joining a hiking club, you will find yourself motivated to hike more often, and go to more hiking spots.

That all equals more exercise, more fresh air, more de-stressing. That’s one heck of a healthy lifestyle.

Hiking with a club, you may get tips on how to pace yourself, how to use hiking poles to save your legs, proper footwear, and more. All this means a safer, healthier, happier you!

6. Benefits and Discounts With certain hiking group memberships, you may get a few interesting benefits in return. Check with your club on this, but here are some possibilities:

Free or discounted admission to parks

Discounts with gear suppliers

Discounted subscriptions to publications (the American Hiking Society offers a free subscription to Backpacker magazine along with membership, for example.)

Your local hikng group may also be a great resource for finding, trading, selling, and buying used hiking gear, books, and more.

7. Travel One of the best reasons to join a hiking club is to get out there and explore new places. Most hiking clubs have a calendar of events and lead outdoor excursions.

Take advantage of your club’s trips to discover new hiking spots. Learn from the more experienced members, and be a guide to the beginners.

How to Join a Hiking Club

Joining a hiking club is easy and basically just involves a simple form, paying regular dues or membership fees (if any) and participating in the group events. There are many state and national level organizations to consider, such as:

the American Hiking Society, in the U.S.
the Confederation of Bushwalking Clubs, NSW, in Austraila
the Auckland Tramping Club,in New Zealand
the Johannesburg Hiking Club, in South Africa

...just to name a few.

One great way to start...

...is with a local club. Local clubs will benefit the parks in your own area more directly, and you are more likely to participate in most of their events.

For more information on a local hiking club in the U.S., see the alliance members of the Amerian Hiking Society.

group of happy trail volunteers hiking club Start by checking with your local recreation department if you have one. They usually offer a class or hiking group.

Many are catered to specific groups like women, teenagers, or senior citizens.

Also check your local park authorities, city, county, region, state, or province.

In addition to offering their own events, nature walks, etc., they just might have a small list of clubs who volunteer in their parks.

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Want to let people know how great your hiking club is? Tell us about your club in our Hiking Club Directory!

Get your hiking club's name out there and post to our Hiking Club Directory. Get attention to your cause and find new members.

Tell us about what you do and why.

(Submissions will be organized by region to make it easy for hikers in your area to find you.)

Name and Location of your Hiking Club

Tell us about your Hiking Club! [ ? ]