The first stage (a walk) is a reflection of a profound realty: "I'm going for a walk"

The second stage (a hike) masks and denatures a profound realty: "I'm going for a walk and it's special because of the settler myth of 'the wild'

The third stage (an "urban hike") masks the absence of a profound realty: "I'm going for a walk and it feels special like a hike but it doesn't count as such because it's not in 'the wild'"

The final stage (trail running) has no relation to any reality whatsoever: "I'm going to run in the woods and bother people for 'fitness' (yeah right)"

i think of hiking as something done over uneven ground, maybe a dirt trail at most. a "walk" is a broader term, but is tended to be associated as a means of travel ("take a" bus, car, bike, walk) over a paved surface in the context of the built environment.

i don't assume this is technically correct, but if i am trying to talk plainly that's how i use them. confusing or blurring the boundaries can be an easy bit, because hike implies more distance and maybe even gear. "the bathroom is downstairs. it's kind of a hike."

also there's the dismissive go away... "take a walk, buddy" vs "take a hike, buddy"... the hike one seems to tell someone to go farther away, maybe in a direction away from other people even."

taps the sign

No Backpack,

No Walking stick,

No Socks above the knee?

Not Hiking.

Hiking is to walking as mountain biking is to... regular biking. It'd be odd to say you were mountain biking if you just went around the neighborhood. Honestly even calling a walk through a field a hike is pushing it, but I guess that's as wild as nature gets in some places

I always thought hike involved changes in elevation and woods. Anything else? Walk.

ITT: hexbear hiKkkers deny the settler logic of the "outdoorsman"

I just call it an urban hike. It helps that one of the neighborhoods in my city is up a huge hill, but I'd still call it a hike if I was out walking all day.

if you put on boots and deliberately avoid sidewalks in favor of the grass next to the sidewalk then it's a wilderness hike by legal definition

everything i do is a hike. then again i nearly always have my daypack, only wear hiking gear and shoes, look like a standard "lesbian of the trail"

but legit if you add like 5kg or more of crap and are on (mostly) uneven terrain you are hiking. mostly because you're burning way more calories

Where I am a hike has to be in the mountains, anything else just wouldn’t sound right. But, maybe that’s a product of growing up by a huge mountain range that people frequently traverse recreationally. Hike to me implies a large change in elevation. Hiking up, hiking back down, etc.

in my mind it becomes a hike if you bring along provisions, if you don't it's just a walk

A hike is any walk that is longer than I want it to be.