Talk:Freehiking

Cross-country hiking?
This sounds like cross-country hiking to me. What gives? Hashaw 04:49, 24 July 2007 (UTC)


 * Oops. I just saw the You Tube video -- bunch of gumbas leaping all over the wilderness. I don't think this qualifies as hiking. Should this article be deleted? Hashaw 04:52, 24 July 2007 (UTC)


 * I think it needs more references and material: I'm happy to give it some time to see if it develops into a real article. hike395 04:58, 24 July 2007 (UTC)


 * Agreed. Let's see what happens. But I suspect that this guy made a film, called it "Freehiking," put it on YouTube, and then thought, "Hey, this could be on Wikipedia too." I've been mountaineering and hiking for 40 years and I've never heard the term "freehiking." Although maybe I'm just an old coot. Also, I noticed from a Google search, that most people seem to think freehiking means "hiking in the nude." Hashaw 15:30, 24 July 2007 (UTC)


 * I was thinking exactly the same thing (i.e, hadn't heard of it, but I'm old, too). I'll poke around: it may be that it isn't notable. hike395 01:20, 25 July 2007 (UTC)


 * Later: OK, I'm convinced that this is synonymous with naked hiking (as Hashaw says above). That article even uses "freehiking" as an alternative term. Redirecting there. hike395 01:26, 25 July 2007 (UTC)

freehiking not necessarily naked hiking
have heard this term bandied about and discussed as such by hikers who were decidedly NOT naked. Apparently the term has a couple of meanings...perhaps a page that incorporates both? A complete redirect to the page you've selected will be rather shocking to people who innocently expect the meaning I originally wrote about. I suggest incorporating both meanings (and perhaps future meanings?) And for what it's worth, the Youtube video is not mine. I stumbled across it from a webpage called freehiking.netand however comical it may be, it appears that group means it as such. From what else I've seen, they didn't coin the term...and they too are fully clothed. I'm planning to edit the page I wrote to include the naked hiking references.

Rickbolger 02:47, 25 July 2007 (UTC) OK, reloaded with both meanings, link to naked hiking. Deleted the goofy video, added other links with references to freehiking.

Rickbolger 03:33, 25 July 2007 (UTC)

Remove this article?
Is this article really necessary. I'm thinking "freehiking" means hiking in the nude to 90% of people. Hashaw 19:31, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

Whatever. The trend will continue to gain popularity regardless of what wikipedia says about it. So go ahead and delete, but you might want to save the content as the (clothed) freehiking movement gains momentum over the next couple years. Rickbolger 14:58, 7 November 2007 (UTC)

Return to main meaning?
A Google search shows that there are 19,800 results for freehiking with naked included, and 132,000 with naked excluded. Search variations reveal similar results (clothing, naked, etc., including combinations).

Per WP:SET, that's enough evidence to lend primary meaning to the the "freestyle" variant instead of the "naturalist" variant.

I therefore propose that the naturalist material be removed, and a hatnote refer to the Naked hiking article. If there are no objections, I will perform the edits.

Dovid (talk) 17:06, 11 October 2015 (UTC)
 * I should include myself as someone who has never heard "off-trail hiking" referred to as freehiking. It's always been "bushwhacking" where I live in the U.S. Northeast (makes sense when you're doing it in a forest with a sometimes dense understory) or "cross-country hiking" (out West where the terrain may be more open). Frankly, this term should be a disambiguation page at best. Daniel Case (talk) 18:10, 11 October 2015 (UTC)
 * A freehiking.net site existed from 2007-2012, and Rickbolger above seems to have heard of it. It isn't new. To many, bushwhacking refers specifically to walking through an area not conducive to it (as you say, dense understory), where freehiking has no such implication. Dovid (talk) 17:22, 20 October 2015 (UTC)


 * I suggest going with a more common term such as "off-trail hiking" or even "bushwhacking". Here is a more reputable source:
 * http://www.backpacker.com/skills/navigation/master-class-off-trail-hiking/
 * Kortoso (talk) 22:17, 28 March 2016 (UTC)

I agree with and  that free hiking is a obscure term for off-trail hiking and seems inherently ambiguous.


 * Proposal
 * Move this article to off-trail hiking (over redirect, which may require an admin), per WP:AT
 * Remove naked hiking material
 * Replace redirect with a disambiguation page, pointing to both off-trail hiking and naked hiking

Further comments? —hike395 (talk) 14:23, 29 March 2016 (UTC)

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