Originally Posted by
Datto
Along that same lines....
I don't necessarily think of women involved with long-distance hiking as being so overtly titillating necessarily (Ha, although that could certainly be debated in the backroads of my mind).
No it's more of a woman being very attractive in a different manner. Quite attractive.
Possibly easy for a man in the hiking community to understand but not so easy for someone outside.
An equal. An admiration as much as an equal as it is for an intrinsic physical attraction.
Example: I once hiked with a very physically attractive woman slightly younger than I who could simply hike me into the ground (with very little effort I might embarrassingly add, Ha). I found her attitude and viewpoints about life (explicit and intended) to be immensely attractive (not just about sex although enjoyment of sex was a major part of her life). She and I had talked quite a bit about that while she and I had hiked together and she and I had immense attraction between each other.
In other cases it was just about physical attraction exclusively and mutually. No commitments, no entanglements at all. The relationship was entirely about satisfaction in one form or another. That was okay too.
Others expected a relationship. I truly understood that viewpoint too. It was just so difficult to keep that alive while you're trying to complete 2,200 mile thru-hike. Not that it couldn't have been picked up after the AT thru-hike, but the "during" part was not going to happen for a man taking on such a challenge.
In any case, there is an immense attractiveness and admiration toward women who are long-distance hikers. Those women extract the essence out of life and seek the greatest experiences one can gain from taking on great challenges.
Datto