When we first put the call out for women to join our team as writers and bloggers, we wanted to include a fun way for applicants to show their personality, so we asked them to write us a haiku about hiking or nature. We were seriously impressed with some of the submissions! I’ve pulled out the first 20, below, in no particular order. Enjoy! And if you have your own haiku you’d like to share, leave it in the comments below!

Cover photo by MakeHerMark, in Shenandoah National Park, Virginia.  

Life takes us all over.
We wander up, down, forward.
But we’re always home.

-Jennifer W.

Tenting in the woods
Nestled, warm. Wind like ocean.
Wait for dawn…sunrise!

-Tali H.

Hiking
Love it or Hate it
Mountains will always be there
Waiting to be explored

-Gwen A.

I must go away
Yes, to the mountains I climb
Tomorrow someday

-Pat-Rice Z.

I smacked her shocked cheek
Suddenly the other week
The mosquito’s dead.

-Tara T.

Photo by Ashley Flemming, on Isle Royale, Michigan

The dirt ribbon calls
It wants to return you home
Back to your true self

-Gail M.

Birds chirp in the trees
Gravel cracks under my boots
I am in my home

-Aspin E.

Meeting many friends
definitely stinky feet
What an awesome view

-Abby W.

Whenever I fall
I may curse and cry and yell
But I will get up

-Danielle Q.

Earth meditation:
Metronomic footfalls tap
My monkey-mind mute.

-Laurie F.

Photo by Susan Alcorn, in the Bay Area, California

Mt Katahdin waits
The white blazes lead me north
See you soon AT

-Amy B.

Cold rain soaks my bones
Black flies like jet airplanes land–
Still, I’m not at school. 

-Mary P.

The journey, mine alone
Yet to share with everyone
Free and weightless days

-Beth V.

Tramper stands alone,
Watching, the dawn breaks, ahead
A million more steps

-Deb B.

Soon my life will change.
My boundaries expand their range.
I shall hike Maine.

-Tara H.

Photo by Amy Lees, in Washington State

This path is my journey
These mountains so high as I cry to the top
I leave little of me as I pass by

-Judy S.

Coffee break camp go.
Only fifteen miles to walk.
Empyreal blue.

-Pamela A.

Majestically
The Mountains Rise Above Me
Finding My Way Home

-Britta S.

Wander creation
Wherever the trail leads me
Home is in my pack

-Lea Ann H.

No. Never again.
Up I go, Cresting summit
Can’t wait for next time.

-Tami B.

Photo by Ilse Dunbar, in the White Mountains, New Hampshire