couples..are most both hikers or a mix?

**DavidNH** · 12-07-2005, 20:39

Hello..

This is a question for married couples. I am wondering are you and your spouse both avid hikers or is one an avid hiker and the other not?

Never having been married myself I come to this with a bit of an outsider perspective. Though it would seem to me that divergent interests would hinder the likely hood of people first coming together and then staying together. Yet on past organized hikes I have noticed that in many couples one is an avid hiker and one is not, and it is not necessarily the man who loves most to hike and backpack though it often is.

So I am curious: 1) what proportion of white blaze couples are both avid hikers and of the others.. what role does gender play in all this, and 2) how has this affected your marriage ..be it positively or negatively.

thanks for your input. I have long wanted to raise this so it will be interesting to see what responses we get here.

DavidNH

PS I tried to post this before but it did not seem to work so trying again. hope it doesnt appear twice!

**justusryans** · 12-07-2005, 20:40

i like camping, she likes hiking

**Hikes in Rain** · 12-07-2005, 21:05

I love it, and the wife did as well, until her knees gave out (early onset of arthritis, which has her partially disabled). She's insisted that I continue my dream of completing the AT, and has acted as more support than anyone could reasonably ask. Bless her heart.

**neo** · 12-07-2005, 22:17

i live and love it,my wife enjoys weekend car camping,backpacking,and kayaking trips and day cycling and day hiking also,she just physicaly could not handle extreme long distance stuff

**Spirit Walker** · 12-07-2005, 23:09

I met my husband while we were both thruhiking the AT. Fortunately, we both love hiking - and hike every chance we get. As important as hiking is to me, I can't imagine being with someone who doesn't share that love. I wouldn't want a marriage in which we each went our own way - but I can't give up the gypsy part of myself either. I'm not happy unless I can spend time in the outdoors on a regular basis. If I miss a week, I get antsy. Miss two and I'm climbing the walls. Miss three and I'm really depressed. Fortunately I married someone who shares my need to hike. So I can have the kind of marriage I dreamed of but I also get to spend time in the woods.

**SteveJ** · 12-07-2005, 23:50

I can't get my wife to come along, so I just bring one of my boys and my puppy!

http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/...p?i=9361&c=517

We did take the entire family a couple of years ago. Hiked about 4 miles in on the Chattooga River Trail. My wife thought it was pretty cool to sleep there by the river with no one else around, but was NOT happy with the idea of cat holes....

She hasn't been with me since!

**rickb** · 12-07-2005, 23:55

Nice shot of the kids SteveJ, but that one really doesn't do your dog justice.

**SteveJ** · 12-08-2005, 00:07

Originally Posted by rickboudrie

Nice shot of the kids SteveJ, but that one really doesn't do your dog justice.

chuckle.... that's the position she seems to always assume when a camera is around... she must think it's her better side!

how's this?

http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/...imageuser=6309

didn't mean to hijack the couple's thread!

Steve

**Moxie00** · 12-08-2005, 00:27

We both discovered backpacking late in life but had gone wilderness canoe camping for all of our marrage. I did an AT thru without her, she backpacked the legenth of both islands in New Zealand alone. Together we have backpacked the CDT in Montana, Bryce, Zion, The Grand Canyon rim to rim, two weeks in the Arizona desert and an extended trip in Alaska. She hikes fast, I am slow and steady and we drive each other crazy but we get it done and love the trail both together and alone.

**Chip** · 12-08-2005, 00:38

I met my wife on a day hike 4 years ago. We now hike & backpack when ever we get a chance. Secton hike the AT & do alot of weekend overnights
in the local parks & NF.

**Seeker** · 12-08-2005, 00:39

i'm 41. met my wife in college in late 1984. we'll be married 19 years in a few weeks. i was already a commissioned officer and gone many weekends with the Guard. when i went on active duty in 1986, i was gone even more often. she developed her own interests to fill the time. we like dayhiking together some, but i was always one for longer hikes. she's expressed an interest in geocaching, which may be a beginning of a new era. we'll see. like one other poster, and my youngest daughter, i need my outdoor time... two weeks without a night out in the woods (or the backyard, if i can't get my 'fix' anywhere else) is maddening... my youngest needs an hour outdoors daily too... she's out, rain or shine, as soon as she can get there... barefoot too, preferably.

my wife is very understanding and encourages me to go, probably mostly because of how restless i get when i've not been gone in awhile... i guess it would be nice to go together, but at least i have a supportive partner in that respect, and who encourages my daughter to go with me. i think in some ways it actually helps the marriage. i don't think the fact that she doesn't go hurts it any... i need my 'alone' time, as i think anyone does...

i had an uncle who was the same way... was gone every weekend doing something outdoors... camping for sure, but also either fishing or hunting... she was the biggest homebody you'd ever met... and they got along fine...

hope that helps you.

**Trail Dog** · 12-08-2005, 03:15

i took my wife on a test hike, after the last Girl friend i decided to only marry someone who could at least do a little of what i craved. She did well and ended up liking the hike as much as me and we went on a nice three month trip. I wouldnt have continued to date her if she went all crazy when a bug crawled accross her foot or the rain was too cold or the floor was too hard or her eye shadow started to wash off.

I just lucked out hitting the jackpot on the first attempt after i changed my relationship priorities

**general** · 12-08-2005, 10:37

monkey and i can't hike enough to satisfy either of us

**otterman** · 12-08-2005, 11:20

My wife loves the outdoors, but will have nothing to do with sleeping in a tent. She supports any trips I take. Not only does she appreciate my love of hiking, but it also gives her precious time to herself.

**Footslogger** · 12-08-2005, 11:37

Our first "official" date was a 7 day trek at Big Bend in southwest Texas. Guess you could say that sealed the bond on top of the great friendship we had already established.

We're a team in every way ...but especially when it comes to backpacking.

'Slogger (AT 2003) & BadAss Turtle (AT 2001)

...next time we're doing the trail together !!

**Pennsylvania Rose** · 12-08-2005, 19:01

My first husband and I met on the Trail. But it turned out that the only time we got along and shared interests was when we were hiking.

I prioritized the other way...my second (and final!!!) husband is kind, loving and supportive. He just hates to hike, much less strap on a pack. He says he went on too many forced marches in the Army and will never do it again. We compromised...he got to teach me to play poker and fish, and I promised never to ask him to go backpacking.

I took a few years off from backpacking when our youngest arrived. This past year I've started hiking again. I find that I miss sharing this part of me with my husband, but I crave the solitude that solo hiking brings. I also enjoy the time I get to spend with my oldest kids - away from the crazyness of a yours-mine-and-ours household. Hopefully I'll break my husband in enough that he'll accept my thru-hike as inevitable.

**PartnerShip** · 12-08-2005, 19:29

We are not married but lived together for 3 years and he loves and has had experience hiking. We are planning a thru hike in 2006
My expererience was in childhood camping and in later years here in Asheville, NC being surrounded by all the mtns and hiking trails it gets in your blood. But I have no real background in Hiking or Backpacking and look forward to this new experience. I am looking to Grandma Gatewood's Head over Heals to carry me thru the hike next year as my life has required me to have extreme endurance and patience and stamina.
This board has been an amazing place to learn and share and vent.
Thank you

**Peaks** · 12-08-2005, 19:41

While we both enjoy backpacking, hiking, biking, and similar activies, there is differerence in intensity. For example, I'll push to get to the top of a mountain, while she will do it a slower pace, and look for birds, plants, animals, etc. I'm happy to do a long distance hike, she prefers a section hike.

**Kerosene** · 12-08-2005, 20:47

My longtime girlfriend and now wife hiked from Duncannon to Harpers Ferry after graduating from college. I ended up carrying her engagement ring with me the entire way, hoping for a romantic moment to ask her. Between the humid, long days, sweat, dirt, and exhaustion, it never felt like the right time (and there aren't a whole lot of inspiring views on that section). She did fairly well until getting tendinitis that killed her on the downhills those last two days. She's never expressed any real enthusiasm for doing it again, so I worked on my daughter until she agreed.

**Doctari** · 12-09-2005, 11:44

I voted "husband likes / wife dosen't"

This however is not exactly true. My wife would love to hike & camp, however her back will not allow her to do so: we have tried: hammock, Ensolite, T-rest, Camp rest, Camp rest and ensolite. After about 3 hrs in the sack, she is in tears. Granted, the hammock was one of those net deals, but. Anyway, we will keep trying. Also, more than about 5 miles & again she is severe pain in the back.

We do get to camp, it's car camping & we have to carry a 8" thick foam pad for her to sleep on. And we do short day hikes.

Doctari.

Poll: Cpls: Is hiking/backpacking major interest of both partners or one spouse?

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