Why Do Hikers Love “The Lord of the Rings” So Much?

“Don’t adventures ever have an end? I suppose not. Someone else always has to carry on the story.” Bilbo to Frodo, The Lord of the Rings

The Idea. Over the past few months, I have been thinking a lot about the cultural values of hiking and long-distance backpacking. After reading articles by Sprout, 10 Values of Hiker Trash Culture, and Becky Booroojian, Why Thru-Hikers Are Obsessed with Fantasy Books, I thought of trying to highlight hiker culture values by using Tolkien references. Having read Tolkien’s “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings” many years ago, the idea came to me while hiking my local trails of trying to write an article. I started re-reading Tolkien’s books and came up with what I think are the core values of hiking culture. I started writing out my thoughts.

How Trail Culture Embodies Tolkien’s Values. It is effortless to equate hiking and long-distance treks with J.R.R. Tolkien fantasy adventures like The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. It is not as simple to narrow down the central values of hiking and long-distance backpacking culture. The wisdom found in Tolkien’s books highlights what I see as the core values and essence of hiking and long-distance backpacking culture. I am excited to share that The Trek published the article I wrote making those connections between Tolkien and trail culture. You can find the entire article here: Why Do Hikers Love “The Lord of the Rings” So Much? How Trail Culture Embodies Tolkien’s Values