The Aragonese Mountaineering Federation (FAM) celebrates this Sunday, 24th September, the 25th edition of the Day of the Aragonese Hiker, ‘a day to vindicate hiking as a leisure and sporting activity and to highlight the privileged conditions of Aragon for its practice due to its natural scenery and its extensive network of approved trails that make this community an international reference for the quality of the same’.
Aragon has more than 800 signposted routes as long-distance footpaths (GR), short-distance footpaths (PR) or local footpaths (SL), that is, around 20,000 kms.
It is said that ‘hiking’ is an evolution of ‘excursionism, of the traditional custom of walking in the mountains whose routes were marked with small stone milestones until paint began to be used to identify certain paths.
The birth of hiking in Europe is attributed to Henri Viaux who, in 1946-1947, inaugurated the first safely walkable footpath, free of difficulty and with indications to avoid getting lost.
The year 1972 is considered to be the year of the arrival of hiking in Spain due to a letter from the French Hiking Federation in which they reported that they had reached the Spanish border with the GR7 route and asked the Spanish federation to continue with its signposting as far as Tarifa. In Aragon, it began its journey in 1989, with the signposting of the GR 11.
Walking along paths, trails…, in short, in the natural environment, allows not only to discover natural heritage or contemplate views, sometimes incredible, but also to exercise calmly, alone or in company, to disconnect from the hustle and bustle of everyday life and to improve, in general, physical and even mental state.
On Hiking Day in Aragon we encourage you to go out and walk some of the many trails we have in Aragon, but always remember to be safe: plan, equip, act.
