Women hikers have hit their stride. Lacing up their hiking boots and hitting the hiking trail, women hikers are becoming sole mates in huge numbers—15 million American women hike regularly, and more than 50 million call themselves fitness walkers.  

Hiking for women has been redefined, glamorized, aerobicized and declared the sport of the new millennium, leaving running and cycling in the dust. Health spas everywhere feature hiking trails, starlets and celebrities hike the hills of Hollywood, and women’s hiking clubs across the country enable women from coast to coast to enjoy the great outdoors in good company, and without hiking alone.