I must say I do. Though not “natural”, there’s something classic about walking a rotting wooden sidewalk in the wilderness.
Frank in Oz edits the wonderful Our Hiking Blog.
A recent post included some of my photos from a 2007 Overland Track hike in Tasmania. It’s a series of photos showing the wooden boardwalks.
see more – The Overland Track – Track images
Frank’s post got me thinking about other boardwalk hikes.
The West Coast Trail, for example:
original – flickr – Christine Rondeau
On flickr, I found more. Atop Whistler Mountain in Canada:
original – flickr – sbat
And the famed Milford Track in New Zealand:
original – flickr – amy&kimball
Leave a comment if you have a favourite boardwalk walk.
besthike.com 
The Swamp Trail located in the mountains above the famed Na Pali trail on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, HI. It has a great boardwalk for about one-third the length of the ten mile hike. It really puts a spring in your step, particularly on the downward journey.
The following flickr link takes you to a boardwalk shot on the hike, but please excuse me for messing with the photo a little ..
http://www.flickr.com/photos/yorkie/286055328
That’s brilliant!
Note to self: GOT to get to Hawaii for hiking.
Hey Rick,
Thanks again for the pics.
Have dropped this http://frankinoz.blogspot.com/2006/03/deadmans-bay-new-river-lagoon-31st.html link in here to show others why they have boardwalked a lot of the Overland Track in Tasmania. The photo is on the South Coast Track in March…our early Autumn
The Olympic Coast in Washington State has plenty of nasty boardwalk. We go in winter usually to the Ozette Loop – and the 3 miles to the Pacific Ocean can take 3 hours to walk. If they’d put chicken wire on the boards it would be heaven, but no, they are wet, frozen and slime covered in moss. Falling WILL happen, you just hope it isn’t bad. Last year I had my leg go through a rotten board and I fell flat on my face, I was lucky to not have snapped my bone.
The worst is where the put in sections of fake board. The moss still grows on it!
In summer it isn’t bad, but sigh, who wants to go there with the throngs?
Hi Sarah,
We did a lot of walking on lightly snow covered boards that had chicken wire on them in July last year in Tasmania and I can assure you it did not stop us slipping one bit. I think I fell over 5 times and had many “slips”. Even with walking poles it was treacherous. Would not be happy falling through the boards!
Paradise meadows in Strathcona Provincial Park, BC has a great boardwalk. And the trail is wheelchair accessible too.
See http://www.bluepeak.net/pictures/canada/bc/strathcona-hiking-2.jpg.html for a picture.
My very favourite boardwalk is a 2 km boardwalk in Rigolet, Labrador. Beautifully crafted, and totally unexpected in such a remote village. It is a great place to watch minke whales from to boot.
See http://www.bluepeak.net/pictures/canada/nunatsiavut/Boardwalk.jpg.html