Concrete Jungle Verses 'The Great Outdoors'

When you tell people that you are going to hike one of the great hiking trails (Juan de Fuca, West Coast, Trans Canada, Pacific Crest), people seem to marvel over your accomplishment. They applaud your efforts and ask a bazillion probing questions. BUT, when you state you are going to walk to Langley, or walk to Hope, you are faced with blank stares followed by one of two questions. Why? or What the hell for? Somehow your sanity comes into question when you talk about walking down a road for 20km. But really, what is the difference between walking on a sidewalk, or walking down a trail?
In all honesty, it wasn't that long ago that walking was the main form of transport for the majority of the population. It actually still is in the "underdeveloped" nations of the world. Walking is somewhat liberating. You can walk anywhere you want on foot, but are limited to highways and roads when in a vehicle. You get to go where you want, rather than where you are told to go. You also get to go the speed you want, rather than the posted limits. No cop is going to arrest you for walking too fast!
Walking on a trail, or in the "concrete jungle" is just that: walking. The landscape may change, but the point to walking is still the same. Neither the concrete jungle, nor the "great outdoors" has to have a destination, but both can. Walking is pure enjoyment, transportation, necessity-it is everything you want it to be and more. It is one of the universal constants, nor matter your social class or location, everyone has to walk (even if it is from your mansion to your car). The loss of this mobility is incredibly disheartening, confining and frustrating. It is one of the fundamental skills of life, alongside eating, and breathing that we take for granted. If we lose that function, we realize how much we miss it.
The what, the where, and they why of walking isn't that important. What is important is that you are out there, putting one foot in front of the other. Walking is a universal concept that binds us together like few other things can.