This weekend I went on two hikes. The first was from Jaun to Gruyères across fields filled with flowers. The second was a loop around the Aiguilles de Baumes. Both hikes were interesting although I prefered the size and pace of the second group.
This weekend I was reminded of the “Hike Your Own” phrase that American thru-hikers like to remind themselves of. I had to remind myself of this phrase on Saturday, but also on previous group hikes with GoSocial.
I find that GoSocial and Meetup are great social networks. It’s an easy way of finding people to do things with, every single weekend. It means that rather than sitting in bars, listening to people talk, hoping for a fun activity, that is not drinking, to be mentioned, you can find a group to do things with.
The flipside to this is that you meet 12-25 people per activity. Sometimes you will meet the same people again, more than once, but more often than not you meet a new group each time.
I considered going for yet another hike yesterday. I didn’t, for two reasons. The first reason is that I had to commit on Wednesday night and I wasn’t ready to commit on Wednesday for Saturday. The second reason is that the group has a black list for people that don’t turn up with a valid reason. I much prefer the “If you’re late we won’t wait” school of punctuality.
I decided instead to join a Bike club Switzerland ride.
This morning I went for another run and I thought about how a few weeks ago we had four groups of 10-20 hikers each, and this weekend we had none. From one week to the next the social hikes vanished. They always vanish during public holidays and weekends. It could be because those that organise public events have family obligations.
The result is that this weekend I could revert to running twice in three days.
Recently I have been hiking so regularly, and on such long hikes that I rest during the week. Two weeks ago I hiked a lot and we had Vision Du Réel so I didn’t run or cycle much.
This morning I could have gone for a group run with people in Geneva but it felt like a big effort to see just four people. It’s not that I didn’t want to go, but rather that I didn’t want to drive or travel to Geneva twice in one day.
Today I drove to Geneva, with the intention of going to a coworking event. In the end I skipped it. Usually when I plan to participate in something like this I go at the start time, rather than at some point during the day. I broke with my routine so I was at the right place, at the right time, and I saw the group. I didn’t say hello.
Luckily this is something I rarely do.
For years I did activities with people, usually not as an organiser for one very simple reason. Micro-managers. These are the people that have an opinion, and a schedule, that want to take control of a simple activity. These people take a spontaneous activity and make it a nightmare.
For me the entire joy of going to do a hike, or a Via ferrata, or other things is to decide on a meeting place, and time, and do it.