Hiking, whilst fun, creates the illusion that what you desire will come true (7,8)
I believe the answer is:
wishful thinking
'illusion that what you desire will come true' is the definition.
'wishful thinking' can be an answer for 'illusion' (wishful thinking is a kind of illusion). I'm unsure of the rest of the definition.
'hiking whilst fun creates' is the wordplay.
'creates' is an anagram indicator.
'hiking'+'whilst'+'fun'='hikingwhilstfun'
'hikingwhilstfun' anagrammed gives 'WISHFUL THINKING'.
'the' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for wishful thinking that I've seen before include "pure fantasy" , "over-optimistic expectation" .)