Chongqing—With a 13- to 14-kilogram pack on his back, Hu Bo asked a very reasonable question as he climbed toward Hongxingyan Haizi, a high-altitude lake at around 4,000 meters.
Why was he doing this to himself?
It was his first overnight backpacking trip. One steep section, only 300 to 400 meters long, took Hu and his wife, Wei Wei, nearly an hour to climb. They took a few steps, stopped to catch their breath, then started again. The higher they went, the heavier the packs felt.
On his first high-altitude backpacking trip, Hu Bo climbs "Despair Slope", a steep section of trail on the way to an alpine lake in Hongxingyan Haizi. The wooden boardwalk ends at the foot of the mountain, leaving hikers with several hundred meters of ascent ahead. (Photo: Hu Bo)
As he climbed, the same question kept coming back. "Why am I not at home resting? Why did I come all this way to suffer?" By the time they reached their campsite, he was exhausted. Once the tent was up, he lay down and slept from the afternoon well into the evening.
Later that night, snow began to fall. As it piled up and pressed against the tent, Hu reached up from inside and knocked it loose. Outside, he could hear the soft hiss of snow hitting the fabric.
At around 6 the next morning, they unzipped the tent. The landscape outside had turned white. The doubts from the previous day seemed to disappear. "When you get somewhere you normally couldn't reach and see something you normally wouldn't get to see, you feel like all the effort from the day before was worth it," Hu said.
Hu Bo and his wife camp beside Hongxingyan Haizi, an alpine lake at around 4,000 meters. Overnight, snow covered the campsite and surrounding mountains. (Photo: Hu Bo)
Hu, a programmer, only began hiking seriously in September 2025, when he walked part of the high trail through Tiger Leaping Gorge. Less than a year later, he was researching backpacks, rain gear, food and water systems, paying more attention to his stamina and load-carrying ability, and taking on his first high-altitude backpacking trip.
His wife, Wei Wei, first got him into hiking. Their story is personal, but it is unfolding against a broader expansion of outdoor participation in China. According to the China Outdoor Sports Industry Development Report 2024-2025 and statistics from the Chinese Mountaineering Association, more than 400 million people in China participate in outdoor sports. The country also has a core group of more than 35 million hiking enthusiasts, nearly double the number in 2019.
The General Administration of Sport has described mountain outdoor activities as moving from specialist pursuits toward broader public participation, and from a focus on adventure toward a wider role in fitness and recreation.
But the numbers only show that more people are going outside. A more interesting question is why some of them keep returning to outdoor activities. Why would someone who wanted a weekend break end up choosing a form of rest that can be much harder than staying home?
More than a workout
Wei, a freelance designer, first developed a love for travel in college, when she used money earned from part-time jobs to take a trip to Lijiang with friends. In recent years, with more control over her time and a growing interest in staying healthy, she began looking for new ways to spend her free time. Hiking offered both exercise and the feeling of going somewhere.
She still enjoys restaurants, shopping, and quiet time at home. But as life changed, she also realized she could not always wait for friends to have time to join her.
"Everyone has their own things going on in life now," she said. "Sometimes you have to make your own fun." She found herself drawn to activities that felt more like a day out than a workout.
Early in Wei's interest in hiking, she used a break on a work trip to Putian, Fujian, to get outdoors before she began buying dedicated hiking gear. (Photo: Wei Wei)
There was another reason she kept coming back to hiking was the same. In the city, Wei said, unfinished plans, work, and small frustrations can easily pile up in the mind. A missed goal can feel bigger than it is. Anxiety has room to grow.
Hiking gives her a very different kind of mental focus. Once she is on a trail, her attention narrows to a much simpler goal. "You only have one goal, which is to reach the end of the trail," she said.
The weight on her shoulders is real. So are the gravel in her shoes and the ache in her legs. But every step also brings her closer to the end of the trail, giving her a clear sense of progress and immediate positive feedback.
"Your body gets tired, but you're looking at the scenery around you, and mentally you can relax," Wei said.
Tang Wei has seen a similar pattern among many of the newcomers he meets. Tang is the founder and trip leader of Shanying Kuke Outdoor Travel, an outdoor club. He first tried hiking largely out of curiosity. A keen photographer, he enjoyed taking pictures along the way. After more trips into the mountains, he found that being outdoors helped him unwind. He began organizing outings with others, first on a small scale and later through the club.
Many of the newcomers he now meets are office workers in their 20s and 30s. The reason he hears most often is that they feel worn down by work and want to get outside for a while. Others are drawn in by mountain scenery they see on social media or first join a hike because a friend invited them. Some tell him they struggle to stick with gym workouts, while hiking feels more flexible and easier to enjoy at their own pace.
Tang also sees a difference in what people are looking for when they head outdoors.
Tang said long-time hikers tended to focus more on mileage and difficulty. Many younger newcomers, by contrast, are looking for a broader experience. They want exercise, but they also value scenery, photography, social connection and a chance to unwind.
"For them, hiking is a way to recharge," Tang said. "It's not a race."
Tang Wei led a group to a 5,095-meter-high point on the Emerald Eye hiking route in the Jiujiahai mountain area of Xiaojin County, Sichuan, during the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday. The route is one of the area's lesser-known destinations for hiking and mountain climbing. (Photo: Tang Wei)
The broader outdoor market is changing in much the same way. A 2025 report jointly released by Chinese research institutions found that China recorded more than 800 million instances of outdoor-sports consumption in 2025, with total spending exceeding 1 trillion yuan (about 140 billion U.S. dollars). The report described outdoor sports as moving beyond a niche pursuit and further into everyday life, with socializing, leisure, and more varied forms of participation becoming a bigger part of the appeal.
From trying it once to taking it seriously
Not everyone who tries hiking once becomes a long-term participant. Some people go out for the photos, enjoy the novelty, and never come back.
Hu's first serious hike was along the high trail at Tiger Leaping Gorge in Yunnan. He was drawn to the mix of walking, photography, and scenery. It felt different from a conventional sightseeing stop, he said, and there were fewer people around.
The experience made him want to try more. Wei began planning other routes, and as the couple went on more hikes, they started to realize how much preparation the outdoors could require.
Hu Bo takes a break during his first serious hiking trip at Tiger Leaping Gorge in Yunnan in September 2025. (Photo: Hu Bo)
After two hiking trips, they began taking their gear more seriously, using the problems they ran into to decide what needed changing.
On one overnight backpacking trip, they carried far more food and water than they needed. When they had to carry everything uphill on their backs, every unnecessary kilogram eventually made itself felt in their shoulders and legs.
Then there was the rain. Their jackets and pants weren't waterproof enough for the conditions, and their clothes got wet while they were setting up camp. They had not packed enough dry layers to change into.
Back home, they adjusted their gear and reconsidered how they packed. That process also drew them deeper into researching outdoor equipment. "You really get sucked into buying gear," Hu said.
Once he started looking, recommendation feeds on Douyin and Xiaohongshu kept surfacing different brands, specifications, and premium products marketed as one-step upgrades. There always seemed to be something else to compare. What began with the idea that hiking mostly required a pair of shoes and two working legs gradually turned into research on backpacks, waterproof clothing, and equipment suited to different conditions.
Wei also began preparing much earlier. Planning a trip now means looking closely at the route and scenery, checking safety, road conditions, and the weather forecast, and figuring out what equipment that particular hike will require.
"I used to be fearless because I didn't know any better," she said. "I thought if I had time, I could just go. I thought all you needed was a pair of legs." Now she may start preparing two weeks in advance.
Wei Wei poses beside an alpine lake in Hongxingyan Haizi with the backpacking gear she and Hu Bo bought for their first high-altitude overnight trip. (Photo: Wei Wei)
As they became more involved, they learned more than what gear to buy or where to go next. They also became more aware of risk, preparation, and what their own bodies could handle.
Hu, for example, does not recommend hiking in the mountains late at night without preparation. One evening, he hiked in Zhaomushan Forest Park in Chongqing at around 10 p.m. With few people around and little lighting, he quickly became more aware of the risks that poor visibility and an empty trail could bring.
As a newcomer to high-altitude hiking, he has also learned to take weather, fitness, and route conditions more seriously. Going deeper into the outdoors, then, does not necessarily mean constantly searching for a harder trail. It can also mean learning how to keep doing it safely.
National data also point to a strong presence of younger adults and urban workers in outdoor participation. The General Administration of Sport has identified people aged 20 to 35 and urban office workers as major participant groups.
For Tang, the more telling sign is how many newcomers keep coming back. Many do not stop after their first outing. His club has a large group of repeat participants, and some have been joining trips with him for two or three years.
Part of that, he said, comes from trust in the club. But he also believes that, for some people, the initial enthusiasm for the outdoors does not simply fade away.
Others, of course, try it once or twice and move on. Tang does not expect everyone drawn in by the trend to stick with outdoor activities long term. "The current wave of interest may cool over time," he said. "But some people will stick with it for the long term."
Staying doesn't always mean going higher
Staying does not always mean going farther, to higher elevations, or onto more technical routes.
Sometimes the outdoors becomes part of everyday life precisely because there is nothing that needs to be accomplished. Zhou Song has operated Ji Bai Villa, a guesthouse in Chongqing's Beibei District, for seven years. Since the beginning of this year, he said, he has noticed more young guests. Some walk through the surrounding village and hills. Others come simply to spend time away from the city with friends.
He remembers one evening when several old classmates from Chongqing and Shenzhen stayed at the guesthouse. They hadn't seen one another in a long time. Sitting around the fireplace, they talked over drinks.
There was no packed itinerary and no attraction they were rushing to reach. "They seemed to have endless things to talk about," Zhou recalled.
By the time they noticed how late it had become, the sky was already beginning to lighten. Only then did they head to their rooms. Some of Zhou's younger guests come for cooler mountain weather, camping or stargazing, while others want to experience a little farm life.
People celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival outdoors at Ji Bai Villa in Chongqing’s Beibei District, combining a traditional holiday gathering with time in the countryside. (Photo: Zhou Song)
That may look very different from Hu hauling a heavy pack up a high-altitude trail. One experience requires constant movement. The other may require almost nothing at all.
What they share is that, for some people, leisure is becoming less about simply arriving somewhere and more about what happens once they are there. It might mean finishing a trail, watching a sunrise, listening to snow fall on a tent, or talking with old friends in the mountains until morning.
Close enough for a weekend
Chongqing provides an accessible setting for that kind of outdoor life. Tang said Chongqing's mountains and varied terrain offer many trails relatively close to the urban center. Some mountain areas can be reached in roughly an hour by car, with routes ranging from beginner-friendly walks to more demanding hikes.
A trip does not always require a long holiday. Half a day or a weekend can be enough. "The closer it is, the lower the barrier," Tang said. "That makes it much easier for the outdoors to become part of everyday leisure."
Official planning also reflects the growing place of outdoor recreation in Chongqing. In May 2026, the Chongqing Municipal Bureau of Planning and Natural Resources published an outdoor camping map identifying 18 representative camping sites across the municipality, including mountain meadows, lakeside areas and bamboo forests
Campers spend time outdoors at a summer camping site in Wulong District, Chongqing. The scene reflects the growing range of outdoor leisure options available across Chongqing. (Photo: Wulong District)
An official citywide outdoor-sports plan through 2030 also includes hiking, camping and cycling across a number of districts and counties. In Beibei, for example, it highlights outdoor activities around Jinyun Mountain, the Jialing River and Jindao Gorge.
When the outdoors becomes part of everyday life
What seems to be changing is not a move away from urban entertainment, but a widening range of leisure choices.
Shopping, dining and going to the movies are still part of everyday life, while hiking and camping have become additional options for some young people. For many people, these may remain occasional outings. For others, they gradually become something more lasting.
For some people, a weekend hike or a night of camping becomes the start of a longer-term hobby. Over time, they learn to plan routes, read weather forecasts, choose equipment, and understand their own physical limits.
Wei sees regular time outdoors as a kind of reset for both body and mind. She compares it to routine maintenance on a car, something that helps it run better afterward.
Before taking up hiking more seriously, Wei Wei was already spending more of her free time outdoors through camping. (Photo: Wei Wei)
Every so often, after a stretch of work, she feels the need to get outside and reset. What stays with her is not only the scenery, but also the moments when hiking partners look out for one another and the brief conversations with strangers on a trail. She comes back feeling mentally recharged and better able to return to work and daily life.
The change is even easier to trace in Hu's case. He used to spend much of his free time at home playing video games. Now he pays more attention to his fitness and endurance. When he cannot travel farther, he rides his electric moped to Zhaomushan, adds weight to his pack, and climbs to train for his next high-altitude hike.
On that first backpacking trip, struggling up the slope with more than 13 kilograms on his back, he kept wondering why he had not simply stayed home to rest.
The experience did not send him back to the couch. He is already training for the next mountain.