The following Mark's Daily Apple article was written by Mark Sisson, and is narrated by Tina Lehman.

14 primal tips for better hiking.

The most basic advice I can give about hiking is to go find a

natural space and walk around. That's it. It's not sexy or particularly exciting, but it's good enough.

I do have some additional thoughts, though. If you want to get deeper, if you want to upgrade or hack your hiking, you'll find today's

post useful. I'm going to offer some ideas on how to get the most out of your forays into wilderness.

I'm not going to discuss multi-day hikes or backpacking, which truth be told I'm not nearly as

experienced with. This is strictly about day hikes, the kind everyone has time to do.

I'm also not going to discuss gear.

It's real easy and fun to geek out on all the awesome gadgets and gear you can buy for hiking,

so I won't spend much time there.

Let's get to it.

Number one, when choosing a hike, avoid those with the most reviews.

When searching for new restaurants to try,

I weigh the number of reviews more heavily than the number of stars they receive.

Same for books and other products.

A 4.5 star average across 2,000 reviews is more convincing than a five-star

average across 20. Not so with hikes. When I'm browsing Yelp or some other hiking reviews

site for a hike to try, I avoid the ones with the most reviews. I expect and prepare for crowds

at a good restaurant. Crowds can even enhance a restaurant's atmosphere. I expect and prepare for crowds at a good restaurant. Crowds can even enhance a

restaurant's atmosphere. I hike to escape the crowds. Number two, be smart. Grock wasn't some

foolhardy hiker heading off into the backcountry on a lark. Most extant hunter-gatherers are

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