44 Original Hiking Poems

1.

Wear hiking boots
to my funeral
and then take the smiles
my life left upon you
into the mountains
to live forever.

11/15/21 by PineTreePoet

2.

Paperclips hold things together
like our taxes and wills.

But trees
hold something else together
the dirt beneath our feet
with their roots
and our all-day-hiking thrills

12/14/21 by PineTreePoet

3.

I’m hiking up
a cold mountain ridge
I smell the pine of the season
and I close my eyes
for a moment
that cannot be described.

When I open them again
I am at my desk
and I see I left the window open.

12/18/21 by PineTreePoet

4.

I just can’t relate
if you don’t love the color green.

With how much of a forest
is that same color
it seems an odd thing.

5/29/21 by PineTreePoet

5.

The sign said:
LEAVE NO TRACE

but I couldn’t help
dropping on the trail
a few of my worries and anxieties.

9/1/21 by PineTreePoet

6.

I started taking less pictures
because I imagined all the trees
stressed about how they looked
and all the rocks
wondering if I’d tag them.

5/7/21 by PineTreePoet

7.

Friends want me to visit
but I’d almost always rather
go hiking.

7/12/21 by PineTreePoet

9.

My awareness splits
when I’m trekking in the woods
because my stress never quits
counting my Earthly goods

which are so dull
amidst the chatterings of Creation
they’ve much less pull
than this pine tree destination

a place of utter delight
as half my mind flies away
an untethered kite
so my true self can rest and play

12/14/22 by PineTreePoet

10.

People
with a good pair of hiking boots
are more trustworthy.

1/31/22 by PineTreePoet

11.

Trailhead signs
point us where we need to go
they warn us of bears and coyotes
of water sources they let us know.

But they can’t take our pictures
they’re only wood and steel

if they could just capture those
emotions
soon-to-be-hikers can only feel.

1/14/22 by PineTreePoet

12.

I might be doing
nothing
in these woods
but I bet the universe
infinite
and never to be understood
looks upon your busy ‘something’
the same as my busy ‘nothing’

1/7/22 by PineTreePoet

13.

Hard times
are coming your way and mine
but my hard times
I hope

are too much snow
on the trail
and too few pictures
taken on my phone.

1/11/22 by PineTreePoet

14.

The forest closed around me
and I lost my trampling way

but then I felt
in its environing
it was begging me to stay.

7/18/21 by PineTreePoet

15.

Heavy pack
crunchy snack
steep switchback
little mountain shack

7/21/21 by PineTreePoet

16.

Red pine needles
trampled smooth underfoot
the forest swells
with earthen pride.

My eyes fall down
then climb a big green tree
they move from stream to stone
to moss
and follow a buzzing bee

the red and green, yellow and blue
all hold hands and sway
a dance so ancient and distant
ordained from the first day.

All day long
they hold each other tight
and I, an alien hiker
with my pack and poles and boots
smile with all my mortal might.

5/24/21 by PineTreePoet

17.

Let’s stop up here
and unpack
our worries.

5/30/21 by PineTreePoet

18.

Teachers like to ask us
what we wish to become
but I’m afraid such questions
likely leave you quite dumb

and deaf to adventure’s beckoning.
So look them in the eye and say

“Wherever the pines grow
and freest birds do fly
even without money
I’d gladly go to die.”

11/2/21 by PineTreePoet

19.

She thought she hadn’t read
any poetry lately
but she looked around
the trail she was hiking
and saw Creation’s perfect verse
musing.

11/5/21 by PineTreePoet

20.

It was a perfect day
but she wanted to turn back
there in the car
we’d left her favorite snack

I smiled and said
bears love peanut butter pretzels too
and it might be better to leave them behind
but that just wouldn’t do

sure, she said,
we might come across a bear or two
but since you won’t be eating any
I can share more than a few

8/21/23 by PineTreePoet

21.

Says the blue jay:

my spell cast
on the weary hiker
lures her heart to play

under pines and birdsong
and trickling streams

away from her impossible
material dreams

Dream here! I say
when she passes beneath my nest
your heart will never be truly free
handcuffed to a civilized quest

7/5/21 by PineTreePoet

22.

Every trail I’ve walked
is a book page I’ve turned past
sewing a great literary sail
not without curiosity’s mast.

11/26/21 by PineTreePoet

23.

I met someone on the trail.
He said good morning.
Typical.

11/18/21 by PineTreePoet

24.

Stopping for pizza
after hiking
is almost as good
as the hiking itself.
Almost.

11/27/21 by PineTreePoet. Grayson Highlands, Virginia.

25.

I keep my trail shoes too long
but I can’t just throw them away
they’ve got the dirt and scuffs
those dirty maps
of all the places
I need to revisit

11/8/21 by PineTreePoet

26.

A good walking stick
even dropped or discarded
can never be lost
only loaned
to the forest or another hiker
either happy for its company

12/14/22 by PineTreePoet

27.

I always keep a map
of my favorite trails
in my bag
just in case I get lost
among all these people
and their material hurry.

10/11/21 by PineTreePoet

28.

Let’s rouse
the great spirit
of adventure
so weakened these days
by smooth roads
and soft beds.

10/22/21 by PineTreePoet

29.

I found a dollar in the forest
perhaps someone paid
for their fresh air therapy.

10/16/21 by PineTreePoet

30.

We’re quite good
at climbing social ladders
and tax brackets

but we walk into a wood
and can’t climb a tree
or summit a boulder
lest we scrape a spoiled knee

10/28/21 by PineTreePoet

31.

I hike to work
pretending cars are big friendly bears
and people are cheery birds.
It helps with the smog and the bustle
and the whole not hiking thing.

9/1/21 by PineTreePoet

32.

You know
if you don’t do a couple good hikes
every year
your life
isn’t all it could be.

9/16/21 by PineTreePoet

33.

I wish less people
hiked my favorite trails
but I wish more people
deeply appreciated forests.
*sighs happily*

9/22/21 by PineTreePoet

34.

If you want to see
someone at their best
take them hiking
somewhere far away.

9/27/21 by PineTreePoet

35.

The rugged trail said to me
follow me
deeper and deeper
into your own soul.

8/1/21 by PineTreePoet

36.

Stillness is the playground
of Earth’s wildest things.

12/6/21 by PineTreePoet

37.

Flowers in the mountains
have a particular way
of making me smile
at the ground.

5/16/21 by PineTreePoet

38.

We’re all born
tree huggers
some of us
only forget.

8/23/21 by PineTreePoet

39.

Craftsmanship:
I construct a little canvas house
and sew myself inside a little bag
and maybe I’ve cooked a little dinner
over quite the little fire
but really, I shouldn’t brag

2/18/22 by PineTreePoet

40.

Wet pines tall as cell towers
but they carry a better connection
every drop of the wild’s waters
rain and river and dewed needle
tether me to immortal reflection

2/16/22 by PineTreePoet

41.

Fries and shake
I’ve had a few and more than many
this day reminds me
of fries and a shake
smiles and good company
plenty

2/23/22 by PineTreePoet

42.

Roads are too smooth
for my liking
I prefer to walk
over roots and rocks
and through the pines
where great explorers
did their wild calling

10/14/21 by PineTreePoet

43.

It’s a weather forecast
and cold wind
pulling down through the trees

Then it’s a fine rain
like soft needles falling
from a blue ridge fog

Then it’s the sun
a clouded and blue and yellow relief
from something I didn’t need relief from

It’s the warming sun
and some rugged hillside
and my day has just begun

though I’ve been hiking
for near five hours

10/17/21 by PineTreePoet

44.

I’m rather fonder
of woods than water
but that’s not to say
I don’t appreciate boating
and floating

It’s just that I’d rather look
upon the glass
from a shaded pine tree shore
than stare at the enchanted wood
from a bobbing little bore

3/30/23 by PineTreePoet