It happens to every hiker sooner or later. Eventually you’ll run out of new places to explore. There are only so many trails, after all. You start to wonder why you’re out there, trudging up another hill to top out on one more summit for yet another, more inspiring view.

Boredom with the whole process of taking the time to put together a hike, then driving down a typically rough road to the next trailhead seems like too much effort. Then once you’re on the trail, the landscape just seems to pass by, almost unnoticed because you’re so intent on the destination of the summit, or worse, you can’t wait to return to the nice soft seat in the car for the drive home. When boredom at the thought of hiking again seems determined to keep you home, maybe you need some variety in your trail life.

Beginning trail hikers soon start to miss the point of hiking in the first place. Some will think that a hike is about just getting to the top, taking in the view, turning around, and heading home. Even to the most experienced hikers the trek to the top is often just a means of reaching the summit. But, to fight the sameness of either day-hiking low hills or summiting high peaks, hikers can take steps to keep it all fresh and interesting.

So much of what draws outdoor enthusiasts outside in the first place is the sheer variety found in nature. No hike should ever become boring if you develop some new ways to cover the same ground. The easiest way to keep a hike new, even if it’s one you’ve done before, is by changing your approach. Instead of starting at one end of a loop, hike it in reverse. The trails in Camden Hills State Park come to mind as a place where loop trails can be done in reverse order. By hiking the other way, you’ll be able to see totally different views.

That’s the idea – to keep changing your view of how you see a hike as more than the destination. Instead, the hike itself can be a way to discover more about what’s immediately surrounding you, while you’re on the trail.

One way to vary your experience is by hiking a familiar trail at night. Night hikes aren’t dangerous with a headlamp that casts a strong beam. Night hiking can expose you to the calmness and serenity that comes from walking through the forest while the most of the natural world is asleep. Those creatures of the night that you never see or hear come alive at night and you’ll be able to see just how different the world is after dark.

If the time of day when you start your hikes has become routine, change it. Instead of striving for membership in the “Crack of Noon” club, start your hike at sunrise, or just before. The effect of watching dawn light filtered through a screen of forest growth to awaken the day can be mesmerizing. It may be enough to make you wish you had done it that way sooner.

Some people only hike with their children. Just once, leave them home or with a sitter. You and your spouse will rediscover just what it was like to trek before you were blessed with little ones. If you never take your kids, then maybe it’s time they went, too. There are dozens of ways to keep a hike fresh with kids, just ask them. They’ll come up with games, hunts, and all sorts of ways to explore what could seem like the same old hike.

That’s what it’s supposed to be about, this hiking thing. It’s a continuous exploration of things differently. One bunch of guys I met on Katahdin a couple of years ago had it figured out. Each year a different one in the group of five decided on the route the rest had to take. It became sort of a follow-the-leader game and over the years they’ve continued to vary their trips over, around and across the mountain. So far, climbing Katahdin hasn’t become one bit boring for them.

Everyone can learn something about their favorite spots that can keep them coming back. One way to acquire awareness of just what it is you’re seeing, as you pass through on the trail, is by taking along a field guide for your specific interest. There are guides on the bookshelves for every natural topic from bird, flower, and tree identification to mammals and geology. Geology is my favorite, so on some trips I pack a geology field guide to compare what I am walking over to the descriptions in the text. It’s a little more weight to pack, but it increases my awareness to have the guide with me to compare to the world at my feet.

Trail food should never be boring. If it gets that way, change your menu. Start by bringing fun food. Instead of bringing the same old crackers, change it up by bringing animal crackers or something totally different like fruit roll-ups. By putting variety into your trail menu, you’ll be discovering new cuisines that can make the trek.

While on your hike, varying your walking style can prevent boredom. If your method involves hiking long hours between breaks, take frequent short breaks. You may observe what you wouldn’t have before. You might not have noticed how big and old a stand of trees is unless you stopped for a trailside pause. One of my favorite pastimes is to climb to the top of a mountain, pausing along the way to enjoy the best of the morning. Then I take a nap on the summit. By letting the serenity of the moment lull me to sleep in the middle of the day, I wake up shortly with a rested view of what it means to have hiked to that summit.

One more method to add to your list of boredom prevention tricks is by hiking during less than ideal conditions. If you’re a fair weather hiker, try going out on a drizzly or outright rainy day. You’ll see what conditions outside are normally, because usually it’s not nice. There may be more to see on a cloudy day, close up and that will force you to look at your immediate surroundings. You could see just how spruce and fir trees hold water on their needles for the longest time.

I may have never really understood the question, “Doesn’t it ever get boring, hiking all the time?” The short answer is no, it doesn’t. It just takes a little imagination and creativity to discover new ways to climb those same old hills. Then, it’s always different, always fresh and the furthest thing from boring.

Brad Viles is an avid hiker who lives in Ellsworth.