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1 " But simply to possess the power like a bird to fly from one peak to another would not bring to us additional or higher experience. No height was ever gained that was worth the gaining without toil and effort, and if the walker were presented by the good fairy with a pair of wings, I think he would … refuse them. He would prefer to walk or climb to the mountain top, to experience all the physical pleasure of well-being, and obtain a true equipoise of mind and spirit to register the varied emotions which through the sense of vision are transmitted to the sense of feeling. "
― Grant, Will
2 " It has said of walkers … that they are born, not made … Others have claimed that only when you go afoot do you grow in the grace of gentleness and humility; that the shining angles accompany the man who walks, but the dark spirits are ever looking out for a chance to ride … while the purely physical aspect of walking may appeal to one person, nature's companionship may be the joy of another. Much will depend upon what we are in ourselves -- our qualities of heart and mind and soul, our natural temperament and training, our relationship to the all-pervading Spirit, and upon the influences which affect us; but that it is a healthy, purifying, and character-revealing exercise most walkers will agree. The very unrest within us that sends us forth upon our walks is an interesting problem. The adventures and experience we meet give a zest to life itself, and often reveal its meaning, and it is with the memories of these we fashion the framework of our temple of the hills "
3 " Why is it, we may ask, that the walker is so often attracted to the hill-top, and what is the reason for the emotion which he experiences in the far view, with its effect upon thought and feeling and imagination? … For them [the hill-walker and the mountain climber] the mountain track symbolises the way of the soul's ascension. There is implanted deep within the human heart the desire to ascend … It is to the heavens above, declaring the Glory of God, that the psalmist first points us, then to the firmament as showing His handiwork … It is the working in us of a great benevolent Spirit that sends us to the high places, there to experience this feeling of elation with all that it brings to life consciousness, and physical and spiritual enjoyment. "