Why Hiking In USA And Europe Is So Different
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 23 ก.ค. 2024
- 00:00 INTRO
00:36 GREENBELLY
01:06 BACKGROUND
02:43 LANDSCAPE
05:21 HIKING ACCESS & STRUCTURE
07:45 HIKING CULTURE
10:15 CONCLUSION
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I live in Finland and I think hiking in Nordic countries (Norway, Finland and Sweden) is probably the dream combination of Europe and US hiking. There is total freedom to roam with very few exceptions and large areas of wilderness, especially in Northern parts. Population density in Norway, Sweden and Finland is around 15-20 people per square mile. In Nordics there is this hut culture where some areas have huts that can be freely used as shelter but they only offer firepit and beds, no personnel or food. Also Norther Nordics is great because you can safely drink water straight from the small mountain rivers without filtering.
Would be also nice to hear hiking culture in Australia and New Zealand.
Thanks for sharing! You’re not the first to mention Sweden. Sounds like we could give them a lil more TLC. And indeed… we could do one for Australia and New Zealand.
Also, you can pitch a tent almost everywhere in Nordic countries. I'm jealous of that fact, because in germany it's absolutely forbidden. You'd have to book a trekking camp spot months in advance in the black forest, for example. A hut tour with a dog is also very hard because dogs are often not allowed.
@@digiay Come to the North of Sweden, on many trails you can let your dog run freely as long as you have control over your dog. There are exceptions in some nature reservations they have to on a leash. Etc
Please don't let immigrants ruin it.
"The murderer can be anyone in Helgesönd! Thats over 7 people!"
Your comparison of a tiny bit of Europe to the USA was a bit daft, it would be like comparing new England with Europe from the Atlantic to the urals. You missed the nordics where you can be in the forest for a couple of weeks and not see anyone else. Hiking in the alps and other mountains mid week is quiet but weekends are busy just like any north American national parks. You didn't mention the epic scenery of the Balkans, dense forest of Poland/Ukraine/belorussia with elk, boar, bison/buffalo, in Finland you have semi domestic reindeer, forest reindeer, elk (moose if you're north American)
Yup exactly good for pointing that out
thank you, i rushed to the comments to write that when the war is over i highly recommend coming to Russia for hiking: no trails, no restaurants - just you and the nature, plenty of discovery and thorough planning (coz you can get unalived otherwise 😅)
I was just about to reply something along these lines. Europe is not only Spain, France, Italy, Germany and the UK. In Scandinavia, Balkans, Poland... you can hike for many days in the wilderness, with the wildlife biodiversity comparable to that of the USA.
An interesting fact, regarding being attacked by a brown bear. Between 2000 and 2015, there where 11.4 attacks/year in North America and 18.2 attacks/year in Europe (excluding Russia). Nearly half of the attacks in Europe were in Romania (8 attacks/year).
As for different kinds of hikes, do "cultural" hikes like Camino de Santiago in Spain/France/Portugal, or Via degli Dei in Italy, where you hike from a village to a town to a village, even exsist in the US?
This
@okapi002 mentioning Romania, we have quite a big brown bear overpopulation problem. Last week one mauled a 19 year old girl, and the government just authorized the killing of 500 brown bears due to the overpopulation. In my hikes in Romania I saw many bears, one even passing approximately 30 metres away from me. And I can proudly boast I also saw a lynx many years ago.
Now, I've been living in Spain, and it's totally different. You never see any wild animals at all, which is kinda boring, but at least it's safe, I guess.
I live in Sweden above the Arctic Circle as mentioned in the video, yes all the reindeer are owned by someone, but when it comes to wildlife there are brown bears, wolves, lynxes, wolverines and golden eagles and all of them are hunting reindeer and moose up here in the north it's a bit more like in the USA. The huts (if there are) are often just shelters and we have the freedom to roam and camp however you are only allowed to camp for a maximum of 24 hours in the same spot. The municipality where I live has a population of 4 728 people 17 600 square kilometres 0,3 people per square kilometre, so it's very different here compared with the biggest part of western Europe.
Edit the only minus point of this video is that it's way to short 😉
Interesting to hear some insight from Sweden 🇸🇪. Yea it definitely seems like Northern Europe has more “wild” spaces and wildlife compared to western and Central Europe. Thanks for the feedback. Maybe we’ll start ramping up the length.
@@Greenbelly Yes, only having any experience from the Nordic area and it rarely matched the description for Europe at all, closer to the US one but still far from it.
@@cynic7049Yeah, Northern Europe is different from the rest. More wild areas and less people and the right to roam and camp according to the rules.
Yeah, this video is way overgeneralised - Europe is not just the Alps and Pyrenees. Scandinavia, the Carpathians and Balkans have a lot of wildlife and you can go weeks without meeting anyone.
Indeed, interesting video but it omits information about hiking in Northern and Eastern Europe
Talking about Europe as a homogeneous area is not a good idea. Sweden for example has a population density of 23/ km² compared to Germany 237/ km². The hiking culture is very different in central Europe compared to the north. It's not uncommon to hike without meeting anyone for a week or so up in Sarek National Park or similar. There are unstaffed safety huts/shelters spaced 1-2 days apart but a tent and adequate gear is definitely a must have. Also a map is good here in the north since there often are unmarked trails.
Indeed. It was difficult to generalize. But tried to largely focus on Western Europe. Sounds like several people agree Sweden in particular has a lil different hiking setup. Thanks for the comment 🫶
But the same could be said about the US, it's even greater area and varied climate. But isn't it a bit like picking on? Obviously you can't generalize anything really, but then you wouldn't have any content. You need to start somewhere and generalizations are a good start.
@@joane24 I agree with you to a point. But I will argue that Europe and the US are very different. Europe is extremely feudal in its structure. Even if the EU acts as a trans-national entity every country has almost unlimited rights to create laws as the see fit. So depending on local demography, culture and tradition these laws will be created differently. In contrast to the US who, I would argue, has some cultural common denominator across its vastness Europe does not realy . We all have different languages and are extremely proud in our national differences. I have only met a handful of europeans who would refer to themselves as europeans prior to french, german, swedish etc. And that is why it is hard to generalize us. The differences are not always but sometimes bigger here and the laws are definitely created different as a result of those differences. I know that US states have great freedom in their way to create laws but they at least share some similarities in culture, language and a common constitution with each other.
@@sebastianzarzargandler1826 I'm European myself and don't mind referring as such, I say it myself.
@@Greenbelly I think that Sweden is mentioned more than Norway and Finland only because we have the same population as them together. More swedes = more comments.
I live in Greece .
Greece is not just islands and seas, as many people think. It is one of the most mountainous countries in Europe.
Olympus mountain , the mountain range of Pindos, the Varvousia mountains , the mountain range of the Rhodope with the virgin forest of Paranesti and Fraktos, which remind us of Scandinavia because there are trees and flowers that you will see in Northern Europe, Taugetos mountain , the White Mountains in Crete ( with a rather difficult terrain ) since it is some of our impressive mountains. Let me not forget to say that bears, wolves, jackals, foxes, deer live in our mountains. In our mountains you will see firs, beeches, and oak trees.
I apologize for my English. I hope what I write is understandable. :)
Good to know about Greece’s mountains and wildlife 🇬🇷 And your English is good 😀
@@Greenbelly Also check out the mountain range of Tymfi with the impressive gorge of the Aoos river and the unique gorge of Vikos, which is the deepest in the world. Thanks for the answer :)
Tymfi looks epic!
Greek people be like “I apologize for my English” and then spit out a large passage in absolutely perfect English 😅
@@ynokenty lol
Lowkey offended Slovenia wasn’t listed as one of the countries who are part of the alps
Slovenia is part of Sweden right?
I think that you missed out on a lot by not including the Balkans and Nordics. Others have mentioned the free roam law of the Nordic countries, also low population density. Balkans have some of the most rugged and remote terrain within continental Europe, as well as some of the only countries where you can camp freely anywhere, for any extent of time. You have a very American view of Europe and literally cut half of the continent off, while including places like the Netherlands and Belgium in your statistics which are some of the flattest and most metropolitan areas.
Parts of the US have some similarities to your "freedom to roam" policies, but it's somewhat more limited. You'll find this mostly out west on public lands.
-On Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands, there are very few restrictions on where you can camp. You can camp for free at almost anywhere, even outside of an established campsite, as long as you are not obstructing a right-of-way, and you practice "leave no trace". There are many established campgrounds on BLM lands too - some fairly primitive with just picnic tables, fire pits and an outhouse, and others more developed, with running water and even showers. The more developed campsites tend to cost more money. At the primitive sites, you are allowed to stay for up to 2 weeks at a time, although the 2-week time limit is often not enforced. Camping "in the bush" is free, and even some established campsites are free.
-The entire coastline of California, Oregon and Washington is public land, and the entire coastline can be hiked (where physically possible). In other words, there is no privately owned beach anywhere on the west coast, where the owner can put up a "private property" sign and prevent people from walking through. Beach camping is allowed in many parts of the coast, but in some areas you have to stay at an established campground. But you can hike along the entire west coast of the US. Part of the Washington coast is in Olympic National Park, and entry or overnight camping may require permits and/or fees. Part of the California coast is in Redwood National Park, and there may be similar policies there.
-California allows free roadside camping at various pull-offs along state highways and US 101 in northern California. You can literally just camp along the side of the road for a night. There are also numerous free beach camping areas - both established and not - along the California coast. The inland and desert areas also have a lot of free, dispersed camping on BLM lands. Eastern Oregon also has a lot of free camping on national forest and BLM land.
3:22 "While hiking through the countryside, you're likely to encounter numerous historical relics, such as one of these medieval churches..."
Illustrates with a picture of Notre Dame de Paris, which is at the centre of the European Union's largest urban area. :)
Haha I thought that too!
The Alpa also stretches across Slovenia... Get your geography straight!
As someone from central europe I can confirm thaz only after having been to the USA I truly grasped the scale of that country. And why so many there seem so obsessed with survival and gear... it's not a mildly strange hobby like it would be here, it's an absolute necessity if you happen to get lost there.
Same might go for more remote parts of europe like the nordic countries, to a degree.
Interesting point about survival culture. Never really thought about that. Thanks for sharing.
@@Greenbelly I think both points are closely related, hiking culture derives from the circumstances like population density vs. remoteness and this again determines the degree of planning you need.
A hike gone wrong in the US or other vast countryside quickly becomes a survival situation whereas a hike gone wrong here in Germany means an unplanned night in a hotel or inn or a nightly taxi or train ride home, in most cases, maybe a call to the fire brigade or an ambulance worst case. You can hardly get out of civilization here, this shapes how you think of risk assessment and preparedness...too little, for most people.
The size really is incomprehensible until you go. We drove from Huston texas through New Mexico into colarado. Imagine how many countries you would have driven through in Europe over that distance. Be like driving from London to Istanbul.
@dereinzigwahreRichi, yes, you can, for example, go up into Alaska, and any of the 8 national parks there, plus many huge state parks, could offer multi-day hikes where you might not see anyone else for days, and in several north of the Arctic Circle, you'd have to be flown in and out.
I don't think it would be a strange topic in Europe to have survival as a hobby. For example in Germany we have really big TH-cam channel that does mostly survival content, there is a big community here for it.
Alps cover slovenia also! Do better background check next time
Not sure how well represented nature richness of Europe is in this video. As an example, only in Croatia (a smaller EU country) you have more than 1000 bears, 600 wolves, thousands of deers, eagles, hawks, etc. When I wake up in my hill house very often my garden is full of young deers, and hawk has a nest in the oak on my property. So, pretty strange to see lack of wildlife attributed to Europe. Although we have reasonably high population density, still 32% of country is covered with forest
The video specifically highlighted the countries in western Europe they were focusing on. So many complaints about this...different parts of Europe are so different, can't handle them all homogeneously.
@@geometerfpv2804 can handle 50 US states with divers geography and can't 50 European states? can speak about rocky, appalachian and sierra nevada ranges but can't include carpathian range in europe?
It depends on the country. In Slovakia, we also have lot of these "waterfall beer & icecream restaurants", but also wild areas with waterfalls / peaks / natural landmarks with no such amenities. We also have bears, wolves, lynxes, eagles... its similar in Balkans or in Northern Europe - and ofcourse, in eastern Europe.
Wonderful! I did my first hike in Italy and it was so cool that they had little pit stops for drinks and eats! Love the breakdown od this video. I'm excited to do more hiking in North America and Europe!
Nice! Hope it was pretty. The Dolomites are 👌
Great content! Well done!
Living my entire life in the Western US, hiking slot canyons, multi-day remote wilderness trails, Colorado 14ers (4267-4420 meter peaks) plus Idaho, Wyoming and Montana backcountry have been the best backpacking & hiking trips with 30lb (14kilo) or more pack.
However, as an older hiker (mid-60’s) the Swiss Alps for 10-14 days every September with 11-15 lb (5-7kilo) pack is the perfect activity for me! I absolutely love the Hütte culture in the Alps! No luggage, just my pack with the essentials and maybe some via-ferrata gear.
Nice! Keep on livin the good life
Love the unbiased portrait of both cultures. As a European, i get the American perspective a lot better now.
At the end of the video, it's a little bit of a stereotype and exageration that Europeans (when they actually mean germans) people will be like "where's the restaurant" "where's the ice cream" like a spoiled child. I've been on plenty of hikes and almost always have food from my backpack, even in a group hike people will usually bring their food, both in France and Germany. It's common even with people from different age groups.
People that do complain about not having a restaurant at the end of the trail are not considered hikers by many in the community in germany.
I think that confusions stems from the fact that in germany you not only have dedicated hikers but just about everyone goes for a walk every now and then, which is a layer that probably doesn't really exist in the US. Maybe you could call them "casual hikers"?
@@martinklein9489 In Germany hiking is a national sport catered to everybody from elite hikers to grandmas who needs their ammenities.
They were just recounting an anecdote from their friends. So many complaints on this video.
I'm adding the rest of Europe that you haven't talked about in the video.
So in Eastern Europe the hiking trails are great because of the scenery (lush forests), a lot of wild animals to see (keep a bear spray at hand), and the trails are nicely marked.
In some mountains, you might find a "cabin" thats basically a big stone house with lots of rooms and a kitchen that serves food.
Also shelters are available in more remote trails.
So it's more similar to American trails just, if you trespass a property by mistake nobody's going to shoot you.
Hiking in Russia is similar to hiking in States. Lke we have thousands of kilometres of wild untouched nature
Ooh interesting. Makes sense. And could be fun if we opened up the USA hiking comparison to other regions across the globe. Someone suggested Australia/ NZ as well.
Great video! Sweden, Norway and Iceland has FANTASTIC landscapes with so much wilderness. That's the best places to hike in the world! ❤️ Also you can find and pick limitless amounts of mushrooms, blueberrys, raspberrys and more.
All of this can be broken down to the available amount of wilderness. In central europe there are nearly no wild areas (except areas close to summits) anymore. Every valley, every forest is owned by someone and is used for agricultural purposes. This makes it easy accessible for day hikes and mountain climbing, but getting away from civilization is not possible. Even if you camp in the wild on the mountain, as soon as you go down into the next valley there are people and villages again.
But as you pointed out, that is not necessarily a bad thing. There are more cultural things to discover, you can get in touch with locals and their traditions. Its just very different i guess. Both have their good and bad aspects.
Yep. Just a personal preference 🙂
haha the last part was exacly my reaction as a dutch person in the US. After a day hike or during the hikes I expected there to be a coffee place or something. Really disapointed each time hahaah
This video is very interesting, it made me think under a different light all the gear videos and trails "strategies".
I don't feel I need a satellite communicator here in Europe for my trails, 99% of the time there is cell phone coverage and 100% of the time someone else is in my same path. Also the miles covered: for me a normal day hike is between 6 and 10 km, with many breaks and maybe some food in a hut, in the US I probably need to bring a tent and all I need to spend the night out.
I think hiking in the US is a more intense experience but hiking in Europe is so much more accessible for everyone.
Yea that is interesting - how the landscape differences might influence the gear differences. Ie satellite communicators are probably more prevalent in the States. Thanks for watching!
Have you ever heard of Romania? 😅 Its full of natural untuched wilderness. Why all those youtubers consider only western Europe????
Fun fact - there are almost the same number of brown bear attacks per year in Romania alone as in the whole of the Northern America.
I've done both.... I love both really! All hikers need to experience both as well. When I'm in Europe I do love the accessibility to food and being able to walk into a town and literally start a hike say by a church or off of a street. But the feeling of true Wilderness you get from U.S. hiking is one of kind. Plus, from a wildlife comparison, there really is none. Europe simply does not have the Fauna the US has! And that's a big deal to us.
Amazing content, also love the graphic editing
Forza Italia! Thank you 🙏
Chuckled a bit at the comment about Germans wanting restaurants at scenic spots.. I've met a lot of Americans on holiday in Europe who expect exactly that ;) ! Fun video though!
Maybe we all need a bit of food and beer on our hikes from time to time 😂
Great Video! Loved the pros and cons from both sides without taking a side.
Great video! Very interesting!
I lived in Germany for three years and I have hiked extensively through Western Europe. I think this video did a very good job of explaining the positives of both Europe and the United States. I am someone who is a bit navigationally challenged, so I really like how well marked the trails are.
Trails in Europe are much better marked than in the United States. There was only one time when I got lost hiking in Germany. It was in the black forest. I do love the different hostels and beer gardens in Germany, Switzerland and Austria.
That said, I love the remoteness of hiking in the United States. I have hiked a large amount of the Appalachian Trail and I have hiked all over Colorado, Utah and Idaho. Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park in Utah are an absolute must for anyone who has a passion for hiking. Being in those two parks is almost a spiritual experience.
I’ve tried Australia and boy that was something different than Europe. The preparedness that was required in Australia is unmatched in Europe
A very informanted video, love it❤❤
Thank you for your insight. That was a fun video. Happy trails!
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed 🤙
We have more wolves in europe than tha US has, and also we have plenty of bears...if you see a deer in europe, it's also probably a wild animal, we also have eagles, wild boars, lynx, seals, even european bison. There are large wilderness areas in Norway, Sweden of Finland, but there is mostly no proper "trail", so you have to leave the trail to get there. But we don't have to reserve spots months in advance to hike these wilderness areas, unlike Alaska for example.
Got to experience Tout Mont Blanc last year - yes it is very different, unique. Note there are even signficant differences between Canada and the US backpacking parks. Here in BC the major trails tend to be a lot less manicured and more rough than those in the US. But the US parks tend to favour dispersed camping while in Canada most have specific designated campsites. The campsites in BC tend to have more development on them, outhouses, tent platforms and bear bins. WA and California parks tend to want you do disperse camp, no sites no outhouses no bear bins nor platforms. Also in BC rangers will universally recommend carrying bear spray while parks like Yosemite strongly prohibit bear spray. WA and Calif parks require bearproof canisters but nowhere in Canada are they required.
cool to see a picture of my main hiking area in here :)
Those differences sound about accurate to me! I'm currently hiking in Japan, and I think it's a bit of a mix of both. Many hikes across peaks you can do in a long day, and the peaks may have small restaurants or souvenir shops. But at the end, when you descend your chosen destination, you're descending back into a town and catching public transportation. There are also well known hiking networks with inns you can stay at that will provide a box lunch for your next day's hike, or bare bones camping huts that only provide a roof. I believe straight up camping is also possible. So you can choose your experience depending on the location.
You can even have bags and luggage sent to your follow on waypoints! 😂
As others have already pointed out there are a lot of smaller mountain ranges even within western europe, that you don't cover in the video, where the hiking experience might differ. Just to highlight two places where I've been that offer great trails and are also less crowded than many parts of the Alps: Massif Central/Cevennes in France and the island of Sardinia (Italy)
These places look dope! Thanks for watching.
I'm just hiking the GR5 which is going through Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembough and France. Today I walked a part of the trail in Belgium and every 500m or so you'll find a small town or some houses 😂, however in other locations of the trail it's very different.
You may want to check again which countries Alps stretch across. Easy to watch video. 👍
Accurate broadly speaking. Thank you for watching!
Great video =)
Thank you! 🙏
Great video.
Europe is not just the few western countries you focused on.
Just go a bit east and you got empty, wild, poorly marked trails, tons of inhabitated places, often no strict rules and all the adventures you are looking for.
if you wanna compare all of europe to usa then lets bring in canada.
@@uresfffff222 it's not me who wrote the title and picked the topic
picked usa -> covered usa ✅
picked europe -> covered just 3-4 out of 44 countries that are part of europe ❌
This is a cool breakdown. I would never have thought that hiking would be any different anywhere else, but I'm so used to how much wilderness there is in the US.
Thanks. Indeed. Kind of curious to explore a comparison with other parts of the world as well
I live in northern italy, I know really well my environment especially mountains in Lombardy, and when I went to kungsleden last year it was completely different
As an American not being able to setup a tent in the mountains is ridiculous, it's the mountains, I can do what I want to an extent.
This is really well done, thanks!
Glad you enjoyed! Thanks for tuning in 🤙
Very interesting!
Brilliant, absolutely and honestly brilliant filming and editing man! Epic work!
Appreciate the love 🫶
I love my Scotland for hiking and wild camping!
Greetings from Edinburgh!
I really enjoy seeing European wilderness. I don't think I will ever get to experience it first hand. I live in the mountains of Colorado and what I like the most is hiking off trail. I leave all the 14ers to the tourist's and frontrangers.
The graphics of this video- cheffs kiss!
Thank you! We try 🤌
2:44 The left image is from the Italian Dolomites, it's Tre Cime looked from the direction of lake Missurina (one of the peaks was removed).
Thanks for the comparison! Ive never been to the US and this video gave me some good informations. Im from Germany, Bavaria. Unfortunately its pretty hard in our region to find real wilderness. Thats why i enjoed every trip to the highlands in Scotland so much! ;)
Don't think the call about Americans being more obsessed with long-term remote hiking trips is quite accurate- that element may be more prevalent here but if you ask any hiker who lives nearby hiking spots if they more often go on multiday trips vs short few hour long trips I think you'll find that the vast majority of American hikers go on shorter day hikes.
SMOOOOOOTH!
3:05 love Scotland being mentioned
Yes, that country, europe
Thankfully, you are able to find remote trails in Europe, too. So you are able to finde the perfect hike for your needs.
Lets go Europe 🌍🙌
Thanks for the super insightful video!
I live in grew up in New Zealand, hiked all over, and now Minnesota Lake country. New Zealand hiking culture seems somewhere between the two but maybe more like the US.
Same as Canada
Excellent video about the different hiking cultures. I highly recommend that you try all of it.
Thanks!
Watching the 1:52 first drone shot was weirdly familiar. Then I realized it's my 10k people home village in the black forest in Germany. Since that's our one second of international fame: Come and visit Gengenbach!
Solid video! Just got back from a hike/mushroom hunt in Colorado. So thankful for all the trails we have out here.
Did someone say wilderness?!🇨🇦🍁🎉
Americans making video about Europe, not taking into account one third of it 😅😅😅
Americans and Europeans made this video :)
I agree, I'm not a fan of this video and will state more later.
But many Europeans do the same and it's astonishing that they so often fall right into this stupid stereotype often enough. The US is one country, yet so often when I travel to Europe and start country hopping, people from each European country tend to generalize me within the context of some monolithic European backdrop of Europe v. the US. I didn't know French and Danish had so much in common.
How about this: North America has 22-23 countries (which includes all of Central America, most of the Caribbean, and yes, Greenland), Europe has somewhere between 44-50 countries, depending on the source. Perhaps we should drop the whole Europe v. US comparisons and make the "comparisons" between continents, of course in a healthy way.
Lastly, which European country is an actual reflection of all of Europe in terms of centuries of immigration? I can't think of one, perhaps the modern UK. The US and Canada each represent all of Europe in their ancestry and beyond. It's just what it is man. For example, the US is the second largest Spanish speaking country in the world after Mexico. There are more Irish Americans than Irish in Ireland. Italian Americans = nearly 1/3 the population of Italy. There are nearly 10 million Scandinavian Americans, which is nearly the population of Sweden, the most populated Scandinavian country. German American ancestry = nearly half the population of Germany. And so it goes.
its just a matter of entusiasm and time to build a hut network in the US, it was made in europe to protect the hikers from the elements, and help them.
or at least a shelter network, with a place with roof over your head where you can stay during a storm or cold night.
Nice comparison and reflection...
I live in Spain and in my videos you can see some hiking in Sierra de Guara, the north of Aragón.
Saludos, gracias adiós!
I love your video style. Fucking great
Hiking in our country is very limited as we have rebels in the mountainous parts .
we can't even wear camouflage apparel nor designs as rebels may think we're part of the military. Must be nice to to roam freely.
What country?
I understand the "general take" of the video and agree with the hiking styles, it gets a like and a sub. Europe is extremly varied, nothing is the same, and it's full of history. Not every German wants an ice cream or a restaurant in the wild :) At least that's the case for us, but we don't mind a beer here and there, cheers :)
Indeed hard to generalize. Did our best! And not all of USA is the same. ie Alaska is quiiiite different. But thanks for watching (and the like and sub 🤙)
Generally good comparison but you missed one point. In Europe within an hour or two you can hike on the cliffs of a shore or in true alpine country. There is a lot of diversity not far away. In the states you need to travel quite a few thousand km to see change. If course a cold beer is seldom more than a day's hike away in Europe, except Scandinavia or Spain. The remoteness is not like in the States.
I would advise anyone to pay attention to local camping laws...which can sometimes get confusing...for example in Czechia you can "night" in any forest (pretty much if you can freely walk there) but you can't "camp" in any forest and you can interpret the law as that putting up a tent is not allowed since its a part of "camping" definition. Tho in practice this is aimed more at staying at a place for a while, making fires, washing stuff and such things so I don't worry about the ambiguity...especially of you set up at evening, don't make a bunch of noise and garbage behind and leave at morning since there is a little chance of anyone even noticing you
Just about anywhere in Europe (outside the urban or populated areas) you can pitch a tent for the night. In case some ranger or policeman finds you in the morning, you can always say you were just surving the night, not being able to reach the camp or hut or village the night before.
I think Europe has more of ahiking trail network, with no defined start or endpoint. Where the US has more of A to B via C hikes…
Ooooh. Never thought about that. Thanks for sharing
Yup, hiking trails are essentially like the road network, just for hikers. In Switzerland, the marked hiking trail network has a length of over 65’000 km, while the road network is not much longer in the range of 70’000 to 85’000 km*. And if we add all accessible trails, the total length of trails hikers can use is probably about twice as long as the road network. You can find free topographical maps with marked trails for Switzerland online.
* I’ve found different numbers
Europe is bit oversimplified in this video. Every country often has it's own rules which is making hike planning quite difficult sometimes.
Indeed. Hard to generalize. We did our best 🤷♂️
Not, just a bit - A LOT.
It's also quite true that America is simplified here as well. After all, it's one country as opposed to a continent (Europe) of many countries.
True, in Spain free camping and open fires are generally forbidden, there are some exceptions, but they vary from one region or National Park to another... which can be a nightmare to plan. The first approach from our authorities is to restrict, ban or regulate everything instead of looking for a middle ground. In some very unpopulated areas of the inner Spain people just go stealth camping, which is theoretically forbidden, but in practice is not a big issue.
With exception of Scandinavia in Europe its almost impossible not to find a tarmac road or a settlement every 3-4h of hiking
Likely so. For better or for worse 🤷♂️
@Greenbelly the continent has been developing steadily urbanistically for 3000 years , even 100 years ago you could only be lost in very rare places like the black forest in Germany or such ..
I miss the difficulty comparison in video.
The meters climbed every day, the weather and access to water is also key etc...
That’s really hard to paint broadly and I think there are the same differences in Europe and the US. Some hikes have great water access, some not. Some hikes have insane elevation gains, some are pretty much flat. That’s more part of a “choose your trail” type of idea than a general sense of hiking in Europe vs the US.
In Europe we don't always hike hut to hut and we are often a day or more from the nearest settlement, especially in Northern Europe. It just isnt on the same scale as the US. Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Scotland etc are a bit different from the GRs in France etc.
I'm more used to camping than using huts or bothies.
As for culture, I'm not sure I like the idea of the trail family concept and I dont have the annual leave to be able to do anything more than two weeks at a time. I couldnt afford to chuck my job to do a thru hike like the AT.
We also have a tradition of rambling and hillwalking and many of us do long distance walking and mountaineering. One thing that always used to differ was gear but this is changing. Shoes and trail runners are gaining popularity in Europe. You used to know the Americans as they would be wearing shoes and we would be wearing boots. I will use shoes on French GRs in the summer but still prefer boots in Scotland. I prefer keeping my feet as dry as possible whereas the US system seems to be to live with wet feet. In boggy Northern Europe that can be extremely uncomfortable and often dangerous. Also, tents. Fly first is more preferable in Scottish wet weather. We just dont have the weather to do without a fly😂 Finally, most of Europe doesnt have the predators that the US has. All I bother about are ticks.😂
Yeah, we have it easier to reach the trails. When I walk in France I get there by ferry and train. In Scotland I can use trains and bus. In Sweden there are the trains and bus as well. That makes it easier to do point to point rather than circular back to a car.
Thanks for sharing some insight. And related to trail runners vs boots... that could be an interesting video about gear differences in USA vs Europe 🙂
@@Greenbelly much less of a UL focus here in scandi, more of a survival focus with massive backpack. Things are slowly changing though packs are getting a bit lighter.
@nichootin I guess that's the bushcraft people. UL is everywhere. Greetings from an UL hiker from the Netherlands 😉
Same here. Try to be as lightweight as possible. Only sleep system is light rather than UL as a comfortable sleep is all important. The bushcrafter scene is something I don't really understand. A lot of them just seem to go to woods near their house and don't bother putting in the kilometres.@@lidewijvos
@@lidewijvos @BrokenBackMountains
dont get me wrong im UL too but most people i meet outdoors in norway arent, most common is the 20kg+ hiker. people are conservative here especially when i comes to outdoor equipment
In the US you wouldnt expect to be alone on the hike to yosemitie falls. You pick your route according to your preference of people, the same in european countries.
If you want to do a popular hike like the West Highland Way or Cape Wrath in Scotland, you'll meet pleanty of folk and it will be busy. Tourism has focused on key stopping points obviously and it can get busy. However, choose a less busy "way" or make your own based on walk highlands maps and you NEED a map and compass and will barely see another soul for days!
Scotland has bothys which are often a gathering point for hikers and bike-packers in bad weather days. These certainly do not come with a chef! Usually a space to camp on a bench or floor, or your tent outside, a fireplace, roof over your head, escape from midgies and good company.
I've hiked busy trails in Maderia with queues, and done others where we saw no one and had waterfalls to ourselves. Done hikes in gorges in Germany with no-one, and others with a cafe and a tour bus of tourists at the end.
Experience: I'm Scottish, live in Germany, have done a few short hikes in the US and many short and long distance hikes across europe.
Great vid but! You are missing almost half of Europe. No Balkan region, central Europe, nordic countries and Carpathian mountains.
It's like missing Eastern US 😅
Hiking in USA vs Europe...I live in the UK but I grew up in Slovakia and I wouldn't dare to compare hiking culture in these two countries, never mind the USA vs Europe. Slovakia and the UK have nothing in common when it comes to hiking, and I'm not saying that one is better than the other (I enjoy both), they are just very different, so it amazes me how you've managed to generalise ''Europe'' based on a very small part of Europe. A knife that many hikers carry in Slovakia can get you in trouble (jail for up to 4 years) in the UK and that's just one example of how dangerous these generalisations can be.
There are very different laws, rules, permits, equipment needed, transportation options, marking, wildlife, landscape, culture around hiking etc. depending on where you are in Europe and I'm sure there are differences in the US, too.
Greenbelly Meals, actually the size difference between the US and all of Europe--over to the Ural Mtns.--is only 3%; we're 97% the size of Europe.
Well it’s all true but you mentioned only the most famous hiking zone in Europe .France ,Germany ,Switzerland and northern Italy are whay more popolated then the rest of Europe ( exactly like the main city in us ) you can have a very similar experience of wild hiking in Eastern Europe, the balkan,m and even southern Italy, this places are rich in flora and fauna and there isn’t so much industrialisation
2:00 what?! Have you ever heard anything about wilderness in Europe?
This is video!
This. is. video. 🔥
What about Dinaric Alps?
Trails hiked: Camino.
one down ✅
I recently did a 6 day hut-to-hut trek in the Italian Dolomites that was unbelievable, a bucket list item for sure!
Nice video, but you really missed on the eastern European hikes, over here there is a combination of European and American hikes, especially in the Carpathians, here almost most animals are wild, besides sheel and horses
now add canada too and you have even more wilderness to hike.
My wife and I were out biking in western Pennsylvania a week ago. We were advised not to go off the bike trail and into the surrounding bushes and trees due to Timber Rattlesnakes. How is the poisonous snake situation in Europe?
Europe definitely has some venomous vipers 🐍😳
@@GreenbellyIn Germany, there is essentially only one species of poisonous snakes, the adder. As this species mainly lives in colder climates, it is generally found in Central, Eastern and Northern Europe. It is however not very dangerous as it is generally ‘shy’ and does not carry enough venom to kill adults, you need to be bitten by more than five snakes to reach the LD50 value in most adults.
In South Western Europe, mainly Italy and France including bordering parts of Switzerland and Spain, you’ll find the asp viper which is more deadly (about 4% of untreated people die from a bite).
Finally, in South Eastern Europe, you’ll find the horned viper, which is significantly more dangerous, the most dangerous snake in Europe.
All based on Wikipedia.
@@Greenbelly True, but fatalities due to a snake bite are extremly rare in Euroe, next to non-existing. Thicks are like 1000x more dangerous.
Is that Zeki in the thumbnail? 🇨🇭
very interesting to not add turkey to list of European hiking destinations but having the pictures of sites from there :)
The majority of Turkey is in Asia
@@a11osaurus the question is not why Turkey was not on the list, why they are showing pictures from Turkey if they are focusing on so beloved Europe, in fact WESTERN EUROPE :)
How can the Cascade mountains of the American Pacific Northwest not be mentioned!!!
Well, you dont have access everywhere in Europe. Be it private or public land.
Also the laws are quite different from country to country, or even in different states of a country.
And access is not the same as being allowed to sleep somewhere, cook something or make a wild camp.
Even staying over night in an RV on public roads or parking spots can be an expensive experience at some places. In Germany some youtubers had to pay hefty fines for cooking and sleeping at declared resting shelters. If its not an emergency you cant stay. Their own videos documenting it were their downfall.
In Austria fe. you are only allowed to sleep outdoors in the wild in a single state.
The good thing is, you can hardly go anwyhere and not find an airbnb, alpine hut or camping spots. Or even a friendly famer, who allows you to put up your tent.
There may be something wrong with your statistics, for example due to the fact that 30% of Poland's surface is forests.
One imortant fact is that youn can nowadays smoke your green medics hiking in germany since they allowed it 😂
I'm not sure if I'd say Europe has "more history". It certainly has more old, architecturally interesting buildings than the US. But Indigenous people were alive all throughout North America when those buildings were being built. Both places have a long and complex history. American history didn't start when Europeans showed up.
Also US wilderness is far from "untouched". Even the most remote areas deal with issues around logging, grazing, and mining. Once you learn to see it you realize a lot of "untouched" wilderness is very much touched.
Europe has more visible human history.
Yeah, I think the history in Europe is more recent and more “in your face”. Even after a full 8h in a nature reserve in france without seeing a soul, at some point you can stumble on an old Roman quarry with blocs of stone etc. I think a lot of the indigenous history of the US is more “hidden”, is less “in your face” or was more temporary than what the Romans and Greeks built a few thousand years ago
@@aphextwin5712 I encourage you to check out places in the US like Chaco Canyon (900 AD). Or Aztec Ruins National Monument (12th and 13th centuries AD). There are many others.
Human arrived in Europe something like 30000 years before than America if this is what you are taking about
@@davideregano2935 doesn’t necessarily mean anything here. Modern day Mongolian nomadic groups leave less artefacts than modern day European shepherds. This has a lot more to do with cultural elements that with pure time.
Akward comparison since a majority of Europe is left out, especially the remote places like Scandinavia, Finland and the Scottish Highlands, only to proceed calling European trails crowded. What?! 🤣 I walked for days in Scotland not seeing anyone on an unmarked path, days from any civilization with a satellite phone. And that's not uncommon.
Actually Europe has more people per square *kilometer* 😉
The best treks are in balkan and east hills and mountines. Try Romanian and Slovenian.
Yeah the reindeer are owned. But not the deer or moose or elk and so on. And your see a lot of wild animals in sweden when our hiking. But yes, as a swede thats done the PCT.... everything is bigger in the US 😉
And thruehike in the us os a different thing