HY-OH: Hike Your Own Hike

Mt. Katahdin-Maine

HY-OH is a long-distance hiker’s mantra. It stands for Hike Your Own Hike, and here’s how it comes about.

You meet some fellow thru-hikers on the trail and start hiking together every day. One day your fellow hikers want to go into town early. They see a yellow-blazed trail that cuts some time off the official white-blazed trail. You object, but they sell you on their idea. Mistake. Hike your own hike.

Perhaps you want to learn more about flora in the region and wish to take more time examining wildflowers. The others are impatient and puzzled by this. So what! Hike your own hike.

You pair off with the hiker you enjoy being with most. One day he says, “I’ve never been to NYC. Man, that’s one place I’ve gotta see. Can you show me around when we get near that area?” The last thing you have in mind is a congested metropolis. Be careful–hike your own hike.

You’ve made a committment to yourself to complete this thru-hike. Your thru-hike. You like these guys you tramp with. One of them may become a close friend in the years ahead. But you are destined to fail in your quest, if you hike some other person’s hike and not your own. If you have a bit slower pace and struggle to keep up, you will hike yourself into injury. If you miss out on what you had planned to see or do, you will regret it later and may become disillusioned in the rough days ahead. HY-OH. Hike your own hike.

That’s the Canadian border terminus of the PCT in the picture.