Cool that you climb some! I have been thinking a little bit about getting started in that. Right now, I'm just happy to find time to hike though.
For me, hiking involves so much of my thoughts and interests and even my emotions that I get lost in it like a good movie. Some teenagers in unhappy homes turn to drugs to escape, but I turned to nature instead. I now work indoors and sit at a computer all day, so it's still an excellent escape from the daily grind. I'm also very interested in both landscape photography and wilderness survival, and hiking is a perfect complement to these interests.
Sometimes, I take a very introverted intuitive approach to hiking--just wandering down a trail thinking. Other times, I take an adventurous extraverted sensing approach--plotting a course off trail to explore an area which looks interesting on the topo map and running down slopes like a crazy man, or Bear Grylls.