When did we start to hike, as a form of enjoyment as opposed to simply going from point "A" to point "B", and what is the future of the activity? Those are Jeffrey Doran's bookends to his book on the history of hiking.

In between, he treats us to the evolution of the activity, explains what we get out of walking over mountains and through forests, and details the motivations behind the creation of hiking clubs.

Hiking might seem rather bland as a topic to build a book around, but just as Terence Young did in 2017 with Heading Out: A History of American Camping, Doran's research brings to light some surprising hiking trivia. 

While most Americans with an interest in the outdoors know of Henry David Thoreau and his belief that, "an early morning walk is a blessing for the whole day," how many realize that 175 years before Thoreau was born in Concord, Massachusetts, that Darby Field became the first Euro-American to take a hike with the purpose (he succeeded) of reaching the summit of Mount Washington in today's New Hampshire, a pinnacle Thoreau didn't reach until 1839?

Or that Earl Shaffer, the first person to hike the Appalachian Trail end-to-end without breaking up his walk, took to the trail not so much because he liked to hike but because, after the loss of a childhood friend at the World War II battle of Iwo Jima, he was determined to "walk the army out of my system, both mentally and physically."

Or that the first hiking clubs in the United States were formed in the 1850s, and that by 1920 there were at least 75 hiking clubs in the New York metropolitan area.

And, very likely most of us had no idea that in June 1907 The Mountaineers club in Seattle urged its members not to take firearms with them on the club's annual outing into the Olympic Mountains because "there is no game that can be killed at this season and the promiscuous use of fire arms during the outing cannot help but be a menace to other members of the party."

But Ramble On is more than a book of hiking trivia, though it is chock-full of that. Rather, it can be viewed as a vehicle for taking measure of where hiking got its start, why we hike, and what the future of the activity might look like as we crowd the outdoors.

Those who might question whether there's a crowding problem need only take to the A.T. during the summer months, or set out to hike the Mist Trail in Yosemite National Park in July or August, or try to bag a permit to hike the Wonderland Trail at Mount Rainier National Park during those months.

A 21st century problem I had no awareness of until I picked up this book is the use of "bots" to "find and select the best campsites" along trails, the author notes.

"The bots are able to find and book a reservation for a backcountry campsite before a human ever has a chance to find them through their own research," writes Doran. 

And while some national parks have tried to tackle the crowding issue in part by implementing shuttle systems to alleviate overcrowded trailheads, that "solution" has created other problems.

"While the shuttle system may have helped with congestion along the Going-to-the-Sun Road (in Glacier National Park), it appears that it might be responsible for an increase in hiker traffic," he points out. "In 1988 roughly 30,000 people hiked the Avalanche Lake Trail on the west side of the park. By 2011 that number had tripled, despite overall park visitation remaining flat during that time period. The Highline Loop, which takes hikers from Logan Pass to The Loop, saw hiker traffic explode from just 1,800 hikers to more than 40,000 during that same period."

These are problems, problems that are not offset entirely, or perhaps not at all, by getting people out into the fresh air in wondrous landscapes. Trails are being worn out, self entitlement and perhaps arrogance seems to be playing out in bad behavior by some hikers, and the solitude that many seek isn't always available.

Raise your hand if you've ever encountered another hiker with ear plugs deployed and yet still the volume seems turned close to, if not at, the highest setting, and so you hear them before they've rounded that bend you're approaching. Or if you've set out to spend the night at a backcountry shelter only to arrive and find not only that the shelter is full, but also that tents have sprouted about it in spots where they shouldn't have been laid down at all.

Some solutions are coming, writes Doran, such as the thought by Zion National Park staff to require reservations for some of that park's most popular hikes during the busy season. Another, he suggests, would be to establish more national parks to spread out hikers into areas that, while blessed with equally magnificent settings, don't draw the traffic that a "national park" does.

No doubt, there remain many trails where you'll find solitude if you walk at least 30 minutes from the trailhead. But better we come to terms with the growing problem, and find sound solutions, before we have to react to established problems.

While Ramble On certainly will help with your knowledge of hiking trivia, it also should carry a warning of what we just might stumble into.