I recall it, too. My mother actually did some of the "Volksmarch" outings that were one piece of the craze; my Dad more or less indicated that he thought he'd already filled his quota of such hikes on Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa (after some practice hikes in Pennsylvania and Mississippi.)

As a kid, I walked everywhere - never had much desire to learn to ride a bike, which I felt was too much hassle - you had to watch traffic, steer around rocks and gravel, and then find somewhere to lock the blasted thing up after you got there. It was easier just to walk. (That carried over into the "simple is better" mantra that describes my backpacking style, I guess.) I still prefer walking to biking.

As I recall, one other after-effect of this craze was the rails-to-trails movement.