Get lost on these awe-inspiring hiking trails from across the globe
- Text by Briony Cartmell
- Photography by Lead image by Philipp Zieger // Wanderlust
Paths are formed by continual treading. When you follow a trail you’re contributing to the preservation of history; echoing the human urge to journey, to explore, and to look.
Between juggling the many pressures of modern life and navigating career paths, taking to the tracks is a powerful tool in breaking life down to its simplest form of orientation. Placing one foot in front of the other puts you, the walker, firmly in control of your chosen destiny.
Photo by Sanne Boertien and Herbert Schröer
Spiritual value does not lie in the destination, but in the experience of the journey itself. Deciding to walk is the antithesis to spending dead time in traffic or suffering a stuffy underground commute, allowing us to carve a route to mindfulness and stay conscious to sensations of the outdoors.
In Wanderlust: Hiking on Legendary Trails, published by Gestalten, contributors capture the diversity of the world’s landscapes, following routes that span from the traditional trade routes of China to mule paths, frozen rivers and dirt roads.
Photo by Quing Yu
Photo by Abhimanyu Bose
“The true beauty of trails is that they do not only exist in the world’s most spectacularly scenic places, the places fit for large-format glossy books of photography; they exist everywhere,” suggests Robert Moor, author of On Trails: An Exploration in this book’s foreword.
While Wanderlust includes helpful tips and route maps for those looking to sleep under the stars, Moor also sees the book as “a compendium of dream walks, some to be walked in our waking life, others to be walked only in the imagination.”
Whether you choose to live vicariously through these global portraits, or your crampons are waiting by the door, everyone can serve to be reminded to connect to the world around them.
Photo by Viktor Posnov
Photo by Jakub Polomski
Photo by Ashley Hill
Photo by Howard Brown
Photo by Jessica Craven
Photo by Karin Eibenberger
Wanderlust: Hiking on Legendary Trails is published by Gestalten.
Enjoyed this article? Like Huck on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.
Latest on Huck
Kathy Shorr’s splashy portraits inside limousines
The Ride of a Lifetime — Wanting to marry a love of cars and photography, Kathy Shorr worked as a limousine driver in the ’80s to use as a studio on wheels. Her new photobook explores her archive.
Written by: Miss Rosen
Lewd tales of live sex shows in ’80s Times Square
Peep Man — Before its LED-beaming modern refresh, the Manhattan plaza was a hotbed for seedy transgression. A new memoir revisits its red light district heyday.
Written by: Miss Rosen
In a world of noise, IC3PEAK are finding radicality in the quiet
Coming Home — Having once been held up as a symbol of Russian youth activism and rebellion, the experimental duo are now living in exile. Their latest album explores their new reality.
Written by: Isaac Muk
Are we steamrolling towards the apocalypse?
One second closer to midnight — While the rolling news cycle, intensifying climate crisis and rapidly advancing technology can make it feel as if the end days are upon us, newsletter columnist Emma Garland remembers that things have always been terrible, and that is a natural part of human life.
Written by: Emma Garland
In a city of rapid gentrification, one south London estate stands firm
A Portrait of Central Hill — Social housing is under threat across the British capital. But residents of the Central Hill estate in Crystal Palace are determined to save their homes, and their community.
Written by: Alex King
Analogue Appreciation: Maria Teriaeva’s five pieces that remind her of home
From Sayan to Savoie — In an ever more digital, online world, we ask our favourite artists about their most cherished pieces of physical culture. First up, the Siberian-born, Paris-based composer and synthesist.
Written by: Maria Teriaeva