I recently went backpacking with a close friend and our daughters in the Dolly Sods Wilderness on the Monongahela National Forest. As we walked down the trail, our daughters leading the descent, I remembered my childhood self running ahead of my mom down a familiar trail in Black Rock Forest. That transition, from being led in into the unknown by our parents into journeying ahead on our own, whether on the trail or in life, is one of the great passages we all experience.

For me, when hiking, whether alone, with family or with friends, I have always experienced trails as a transitory experience that reminds me of who I am, the values I represent, and the path that led me to my love of public lands. My mom used hiking as means to stoke our curiosity and fill our time when the family could not afford recreational activities that require entrance fees or specialized equipment.

Public lands and trails were our means to connect with great landscapes, nature and other people. And all it required was a sense of adventure, water and a stack of peanut butter sandwiches. On these journeys I conquered peaks, forded streams and learned to listen to the woods. I learned that people of all ages and every walk of life were equals on the trail.

Watching our daughters, my backpacking partner shared why trails are so important to him.

“I doubt I can adequately convey what trail hiking has meant in my life. To me, trail hiking is a release from the stresses of modern life. A simple hike along a trail in nature allows me to put all the complexities of the modern world into perspective. The physicality of a long trail hike in the wilderness works out the body while the beauty and quiet of nature calms the mind. I began hiking wilderness trails as a young teenaged Boy Scout. Later, long distance hiking helped me with the transition from military life back into the civilian world. My experience hiking the trails has led me to care deeply about our natural world, ultimately leading to a career in environmental protection. I would like to pass on to my children the understanding that trail hiking can ground us, allowing a brief escape from the pressure of modern life, and help us all appreciate the simpleness of nature's quiet and beauty.”

Offering that kind of escape is important, and it’s something we provide for all our national forest and grassland visitors.

June 4 is the 30th annual National Trails Day, a day of service and celebration of hiking across the country. The Forest Service has much to celebrate. We offer the most extensive trails network of any organization in the country—nearly 160,000 miles of trail. In 2020, we had 168 million visitors, more than 60% of those visitors came for some kind of physical activity such as hiking.

That’s why the implementation of our 10 Year Trails Stewardship Challenge, our strategy to professionalize our trail program and build partner and field capacity, is so vital. More than 50,000 miles have been maintained to standard and nearly half of those miles were accomplished by partners and local hiking clubs across the country.

I deeply appreciate the thousands of volunteers, partner organizations and Forest Service professional staff across our agency that accomplished this achievement. While our agency is steadfastly responding to our nation’s wildfire crisis, we are also building our capacity, our vision, and our engagement in delivering our recreation and trails program. We are making unprecedented investments into our recreation programs this year, and I look forward to launching our new national recreation strategy later this month.

If you have time this weekend—give back. Join a local event and celebrate our trails—you can find a local event on the American Hiking Society website. I hope to see you out on the trail.