Do people hook up/date/fall in love on the trail with other rhu hikers? has any experienced this or know of it happening?
gary
More than friends on the AT
system
#3
Oh yes this happens…more then you would think, plus local town chicks dig dirty hiker guys…especially in Palmerton and DWG…maybe its the whole Penn. thing.
LK
system
#4
You can bet this happens! Adrienne Hall went on a “6 month date” and married her hiking companion. I don’t remember how long ago it was, but she wrote articles for our local paper about her experiences. It may have been in '96…? Anyway, she has published a couple of books which I’m sure all you clever people can find. :tongue
Lady Di
system
#6
My sister is living proof! She and her hiking partner, Bloody Cactus (Stu), met on a trail website, talked for a year and decided to leave for the trail together, as he was coming from England/Australia and didn’t know anyone. They left together and within a month were head over heals! They stopped hiking at 650 miles and will continue their section hike after they get married. Wedding is set for 6/18/05!
The happy sister,
Amy 
Xena’s sister
system
#7
cheers and i met on the trail on march 4th of this year and got married on august 10th. love got in the way of the hike, but we’re glad it did.
grace
system
#10
I agree with Swift, sleep just seemed so much more appealing most? of the time…though I do remember a really, really cute girl from CNU met while sectioning in May…:tongue
My friends told me the only way I would ever meet my someday wife was while hiking the AT…I guess I’ll be single my whole life now… that, or start hanging out in the Nursing School library more often…
-xtn:pimp
airferret
system
#11
I met a woman with a young boy at the Outfitters on the Carlisle Pike. I was there with some southbounders because they needed new shoes. The woman came over to us and obviously for the benefit of the child spoke to the hikers. I found out from talking to her that she and her husband met on the trail in '99 and now live in this area (Harrisburg/Carlisle). They married and have 2 children. Recently, when they were talking about hiking in '99, their son asked, " Where was I while you were hiking?"
Out of the mouths of babes!!
Mary Parry
system
#12
Zero and I met at Bly Gap about seventy miles into the trail and hiked almost all the remaining trail together, as friends. We stayed in touch after the trail and began dating in December of '03. We now preparing for a PCT thru-hike next year. The AT provided me with the best hiking partner I ever had, the best friend I’ve ever known and the best woman I have ever dated, all combined in one amazing woman. Though I didn’t set out to find romance I did and a trail girl is the best girl! Yo-YO Game '03
Yo-Yo
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#14
There are a surprising number of relationships that do happen on the trail. I wouldn’t count on it, by any means, but it does happen that you hike with someone a while, become friends, become partners, become more.
I am happily married to someone I met on my second thruhike. In the group in which we were travelling, three couples formed. One was unable to mesh lifestyles after the trail (both had businesses and families on opposite coasts), but the other couple did marry and now have a couple of kids.
The intimacy that happens while sharing a hike can be a problem if one of the two is already married/involved. The hiking partner may be closer than the husband/wife of many years, because they KNOW what thruhiking is about.
There are also a fair number who just hook up for the duration - or a day or a week. Or, as others have said, casual met acquaintances in town or along the trail may show some signs of interest. I know one guy who met someone at an overlook in the Shenandoahs. They met several times during his hike, and moved in together when he finished. But that’s rare. All in all, the percentage of frustrated hikers is much higher than the percentage who find a friend along the way.
Spirit Walker
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#15
a few things to remember:
the male-female ratio is about a zillion to one. So that means that any female hiker with even the remotest interest in some, ahem, companionship can find it (not so for guys, sorry).
but to quote Jitterbug (02) “a lot of those guys are like Little Debbie cakes - they taste pretty good when you’re on the trail, but then you get home and ask, ‘what was I thinking?!’”
mindlessmariachi