One of my favorite things about hiking is that you truly never know what you will encounter, no matter how much preparation or thought that you put into a trip. There could be physical challenges, poor weather, gear failures, poor water reports, and so on. However, the thing that really amazes me every time that I’m out hiking is the people that I meet, and they are the ones that make the trips the most memorable.
Some people try to avoid trails at busy times, but I welcome a busy trail. It gives me an opportunity to help out less experienced hikers, and allows me to get to know someone that I otherwise would not have interacted with.
A couple of examples that immediately come to mind are Wyatt – an entrepreneur that was in town for business, but his first stop once he was in town was to one of the most challenging hikes in the city. Or John, who had a ton of knowledge about the trail that I was about to hike, and even offered some unique perspective about the history of the trail and the people that had inhabited the area hundreds of years prior.
All that to say: be friendly on the trails. You never know who you might run into!