“I don’t like either the word [hike] or the thing. People ought to saunter in the mountains – not ‘hike!’ Do you know the origin of that word saunter? It’s a beautiful word. Away back in the middle ages people used to go on pilgrimages to the Holy Land, and when people in the villages through which they passed asked where they were going they would reply, ‘A la sainte terre’, ‘To the Holy Land.’ And so they became known as sainte-terre-ers or saunterers. Now these mountains are our Holy Land, and we ought to saunter through them reverently, not ‘hike’ through them.”
~ John Muir

Saunter feels like an old fashioned word to me. How many in this stressed out world have the time or inclination to saunter? Perhaps we saunter with our fingers these days, scrolling through a forestland of words, too apt to encounter trepidation. Ofttimes, I have found, there is little peace to be found in that forest. Full of noise and angst, it leaves one feeling more on edge than when the journey began.

Most of us do not have the luxury of sauntering a pristine wilderness, such as the Sierra Nevada and Yosemite that inspired John Muir. But, a luxurious saunter with a good friend for an hour or two is a walk just as worthy, perhaps even more so. For to spend quality time with another human being, speaking of things of and from the heart, to move one’s feet and exercise both body and mind, that is a walk that refreshes and grows the soul.

I therefore vote to resuscitate “saunter” from the dictionary archives, to bask in a forest, or human laughter (and if one is so lucky, both at once), to bathe in delight, to feel the pure joy of doing practically nothing, and finding everything, too.

For what can be more rejuvenating to the human soul, than a good slow saunter?

More inspirational quotes from John Muir (also known as “John of the Mountains” and “Father of the National Parks”):

“Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wildness is a necessity; and that mountain parks and reservations are useful not only as fountains of timber and irrigating rivers, but as fountains of life.”

“The sun shines not on us but in us. The rivers flow not past, but through us. Thrilling, tingling, vibrating every fiber and cell of the substance of our bodies, making them glide and sing. The trees wave and the flowers bloom in our bodies as well as our souls, and every bird song, wind song, and tremendous storm song of the rocks in the heart of the mountains is our song, our very own, and sings our love.”

“This grand show is eternal. It is always sunrise somewhere; the dew is never all dried at once; a shower is forever falling; vapor is ever rising. Eternal sunrise, eternal sunset, eternal dawn and gloaming, on sea and continents and islands, each in its turn, as the round earth rolls.”

A Good Day to Saunter, Susan L Hart 2025 / More ebooks

(Photo is courtesy of Trace Hudson, Pexels)