5 Tips for Dating on the Trail
Normal mating rituals don’t really exist when you’re living in flimsy-walled tent dwellings and you’re interacting with non-family members of the opposite sex on a regular, intimate basis. Think of it like college, but with less crappy beer and more attractive partners. In this kind of a context, relationships can progress rapidly, from first contact to sharing a sleeping bag to breaking up in a matter of weeks – or even days. If you want to join the game, you better be ready to navigate the choppy waters; these tips should help you keep your head above water.
Dive In
You’ve been there plenty of times before: staring down a run or up an ascent and taking a deep breath to steady yourself before giving yourself over to the water, or gravity, or whatever the force du jour is that you’re battling. When it comes to dating on the trail, you need to take the same attitude. You can’t sit around waiting until the river calms itself or the stones reorganize into a more easily navigable path, just like you can’t sit around waiting for love to fall into your lap. Hold your fear at bay and take the plunge already!
Don’t Sacrifice Yourself
In the real world, there are always rules to be followed and compromises to be made. If you go on a date, you need to agree on everything from the movie you’re going to watch to who is going to pay to the type of food you’ll force yourself to enjoy together. You need to remember that part of the reason you’re in the wild is because you want to get away from all of that BS and not have to pretend to change your point of view just for a little lovin’. Stick to your guns when it comes to your favorite gear brands and your personally perfected techniques; being a starry-eyed pushover isn’t going to win you any points.
Keep Drama to a Minimum
This advice should be followed no matter where you’re dating, but it becomes especially important when it’s difficult or impossible for non-involved people to escape the drama you’ve created. So the person who you thought was your new soul mate was really only looking for a one-night thing, and you found out the hard way when you found him or her kissing another person in the group. You live, you learn. Let things take their natural course, and be more careful with your feelings the next time around.
Treat It Like Vegas
A.k.a.: what happens on the trail, stays on the trail. It’s true that long-term relationships have blossomed from seeds sown while the couple has been trekking across the rugged face of the globe. It’s also true that matches made outdoors have fizzled once the parties involved get to see the complicated, messy, not-at-all-romantic truths of each other’s day-to-day reality. Sometimes the best thing really is to enjoy it while it lasts, and don’t mourn it when it’s gone.
Stay Casual
The adrenaline that courses through your veins when you’re trying something new and/or dangerous is a powerful drug; one that can often be mistaken for attraction if you’re in the vicinity of potential partners when the rush occurs. If you want to figure out if a new relationship has a future, back off and let the first swell of emotion ebb a bit instead of making a poetry-spouting fool of yourself. It doesn’t mean that you’re “not following your heart;” it just means you’re letting your calm, rational mind have a say instead of giving over the decision making process to your hormones.
Image sources: Flickr, Flickr, and Flickr.
