Hiking Into The Heart Of Your Next Romance

If you’re a down-to-earth kind of person, a hiking date might be the perfect way to discover your date’s personality in only a few easy steps…

So, here we go…

Can You Have A Romantic Hiking Date?

Yearning for that hot and sweaty, heart-pounding, blood-pumping moment? All while trying to look cute as your makeup melts and your hair is a frizzy nest from the humidity, and that divine dress you wore is letting your inner Marilyn Monroe play from the gully breezes, as your heels find every rocky crevice on the trek while playing your part as live-bait to bugs.

Ah huh?

Yearning for that hot and sweaty, heart pounding, blood pumping moment? All while trying to look cute as your makeup melts…

 

Or

The ranges are an open ocean of golden-russet waves trapped in mid-motion, kissing a cerulean skyline. A lone eagle’s glide serenades the sunset that has yet to slip away. The fragrant honey from bottlebrushes mingles with the richness of warm earth bedding under the cooling air. Just as the last of the sun sinks, allowing the sky to illuminate the magic of the night, your date holds your hand and leans in for the first blissful kiss…

 

Are Their Benefits to A Hike-Date?

The drive to your hiking destination can be a wonderful way to talk by leaving the stresses of the day behind you.

When going on a hiking date, research and preparations differ greatly compared to the usual restaurant first-date standard. You also get to escape the crowds and don’t have to shout to speak, or shoulder strangers for the best position at an outdoor concert or in a nightclub.

You can still share a romantic meal with a view of the sunset like in my Rural Romance novel, THE FOOTBALL WHISPERER.

It can be that surprise getaway where you truly become the only two people on the trail. to watch a sunrise, and there are many who have gone hiking for their honeymoon.

 

 

 

But, to go hiking on a first date?

 

The Hike-Date Can Be Cheap Too…

There’s no splitting cost-of-the-meal moment of awkwardness, and no danger your date will order the lobster meal for you to pay for it all later. There’s no fear of getting the wrong wine with the dish of the moment. You don’t need to spend a fortune on the latest fashion trend for dinner, and there is no fear of facing off across a dining table with nothing to say when you have an entire scenery of nature to avoid all forms of eye contact by saying, ‘Hey, did you see that?’

 

There are no awkward across-the-table staring moments when you have an entire scenery of nature to avoid all forms of eye contact

 

So, if you’re a down-to-earth kind of gal, a hiking date might be the perfect way to discover your date’s personality in only a few easy steps. (*Finally a pun.)

The Ten (+1) Types of Hike-Daters

(not to be confused with Day-Hikers)

Using the guide below, going on a hiking date is a great way to learn about their personality:

The Off-Track Trekker:

They are the type of hiker to wander off the track and disappear around corners.

With a willingness to step beyond the beaten path on your first date, will this type of hiker stray from you later in life?

They may also be the true adventurer who can lead you beyond your comfort zone and into an amazing new world.

The Track Blusterer:

This is the type who forges ahead and leaves you behind, blustering along the track as they race you to the hill. Their ambition and competitive nature demand they get there first, so will they leave you for dust later on in life?

Or will they introduce you to the sport of marathon-trail-running or you’ll both enjoy mountain-biking for the second date?

The Micro-Wanderer:

This type wanders slowly to look at every little, tiny, thing, making you constantly turn to look for them & wait… While they zoom in for the hundredth image on a mushroom growing in a pile of buffalo poop.

Hang in there, they may be a disease curing scientist or National Geographic’s next big Instagram Influencer…

The Boy-Scout-Botherer:

Imagine a modern-day shepherd, herding you to stay on track. So, for a small hike, they’ll cart a multi-day-trekking pack with an inflatable kitchen sink. They’ll constantly pass you the sunscreen, bug spray, check you’re hydrated and nourished well, all while watching the GPS and weather patterns for the next big storm.

This type might be a keeper as the perfect Boy Scout Leader for your children.

The Foot-Thunderer:

The earth bends beneath their feet, snapping twigs and kicking rocks.

They are the caveman’s cousin and descendant of Big-Foot!

The bonus is, you couldn’t lose them in the forest because they’re so sure of foot and may have an intimate knowledge of the path ahead.

(Am I sounding like a fortune cookie?)

The Jaw-Jabberer:

Not a bird. But the motormouth who scares off the wildlife with their voice echoing across canyons.

The chatting may be a side-effect for nervousness because they really, really, like you. It could become a fabulous opportunity to share in the most spontaneous conversation of nonsense ever. Happy tears could be shed over the comedic claptrap shared where you’ll break out into an impromptu karaoke-killer at any given moment. Who else is going to see or hear you two out there?

Just saying…

…the comedic claptrap where you’ll break out into an impromptu karaoke-killer at any given moment…

The Phone Warrior:

Being out of range & getting no mobile phone signal scares them. They’re also the type to never get their shoes dirty.

Expect their text to say that they’re not going to make your date! Or, they’ll blame lack of signal and just rudely stand you up on your hiking date!

But hey, you can trek the trail in either tears or anger, only to celebrate completing the trek solo!

They’re loss.

Mr Five-Seconds-of-Excitement:

They’re the gamer’s BFF.

The kind of hiker who’d get bored if there’s no action on the track. Or, they’re so on edge waiting for something to attack.

Um, well… the positives of this type?

They may be handy in an action sequence? Or, they’re a fast-thinking first-responder who won’t panic in a hiking mishap—that’s if they don’t look for trouble & find it!

The Strolling Shopper:

Like normal, they’ve bought a new outfit for the date…

While you get to practise your first aid skills in caring for their wounds caused by their new boots as they limp back to the car.

The vulnerability of this hiker may be endearing and their enthusiasm to tackle a new sport maybe infectious, making them a champion for trying something new–who can shop!

 

The Surviving Hiking-Viking:

They’ve hiked all across the world and partied at Mount Everest’s base camp. Their backyard training area makes Ninja warriors seem like a pre-schooler’s summer-camp.

You could learn so much from this guru’s adventures and his tips for the trail.

But, would it be a tutoring lesson or a date?

Their backyard training area makes Ninja warriors seem like a pre-schooler’s summer-camp.

 

The Mythical Partner:

This mythical perfect hiking-date-partner is the type to walk alongside just to hold your hand. They’re willing to help you climb that hill but ask first, and they will allow you to take the lead along the skinny corridors and around boulders. Not only will you share an endless conversation together, but they’ll also indulge in the silence as you both drink in the epic sight of your surroundings.

They’ll only use their phone to take photos with you, for you, and of you, to truly indulge in your dating moment together.… (*sighs)

 

The Hike-Date Health Benefits

Hiking is loaded with many positive health benefits. It also releases those feel-good endorphins. It’s a weight-bearing workout of the gentlest kind that boosts bone density with huge de-stressing benefits as a scientifically proven mood booster.

Some hiking locations actually make you live in the moment free from all forms of social media by being out of mobile range. You’ll actually be disconnected from the world—allowing the opportunity to truly connect with yourself.

And this is what I do with my characters in some of my stories…

 

 

In the Australian Bestseller, THE ART OF DUST two long lost summer soulmates used to share the love of hiking, and how trekking the pathways in a small outback town is a trip down memory lane for the pair of them.

In UNPLANNED PARTY a young man hikes for the first time in his life, escaping his world and finding the beauty of the world around him.

As mentioned before about the Amazon International Bestseller, THE FOOTBALL WHISPERER’s outdoor date, but he also our hero trains along winding tracks in his cross country marathons. For a city boy, it’s quite the adventure.

In WINTER’S WALK, we meet Jessica, a survivor from a hit and run, who tries to train for a hiking expedition but argues more with her bantering, blue-eyed, hard-bodied neighbour!

In MUSTER IN THE DUST, we have an amazing woman who searches for water in an outback hike!

Finally, I have a short hiking story called A STRANGERS STORM.   It’s yours, FREE. Consider it as your reward for reading all the way to the end!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

      

Hiking Date types –  Vlog Part I   and  Hiking Date Types – Vlog Part II

**All still images relating to this post’s topic are via the talented & fabulous photographers at https://unsplash.com/  Thanks guys.

 #Escape2HEA

#FootballWhisperer | #StrangerStorm  | #UnPlannedParty | #TheARTofDUST | #WintersWalk  |  #MusterintheDUST