6th November 2025

Why Hiking Is Better Than Hinge

Because swiping through strangers while reheating dinner isn’t the love story you imagined.

Here’s how modern dating looks for a lot of us:
It’s 8:47pm.
The kids are finally asleep. You’re in your comfiest socks, halfway through folding laundry, staring blankly at your phone.
You open Hinge out of habit more than hope.
You scroll past four shirtless mirror selfies, a man holding a fish, and someone whose bio says, “Just ask ;)”

You close the app.
You sigh.
You wonder if maybe your person just got hit by a bus, and that’s why they’re not here yet.

Welcome to dating as a single woman in your 30s or 40s.
You’re raising kids. Managing a career. Keeping fit (or trying). Maintaining friendships. Holding it all together.
And now, on top of that, you’re supposed to find a man?

Where, exactly, does meeting someone fit on your to-do list?
Between packing school lunches and replying to that 7am work email?

If you’ve ever felt like modern dating wasn’t built for your life…
You’re not wrong.
But there’s another way.

And it starts with something wonderfully simple:
Walking.

The Spark: Where Romance Meets Real Life

A few weeks ago, we hosted a singles hike through Trigg Bushland.
No expectations. No algorithms. Just a bunch of people walking side-by-side, wondering who they might meet.

100 people showed up.
Not influencers. Not love experts. Just real humans who were done with the scroll, and craving something slower, something true.

What happened that day surprised us.
Because the vulnerability didn’t just live in the trail talk about “how steep is this hill?”
It showed up in the sideways glances.
In the brave small talk.
In the “do you want to walk with me?”
And in the soft exhale of people who were just… tired of pretending they loved dating apps.

Why Hiking Beats Hinge (Every Time)

1. You Can’t Fake Who You Are When You’re Mid-Hike

There’s no curated highlight reel on the trail.
No filters. No photo prompts. No algorithm trying to match you based on shared love of tacos.

It’s just two people, side by side, moving at the same pace.
And that’s when the real stuff slips out.

You talk about your kids.
Your messy morning.
Your fear of dating again.
Or nothing at all.. just walking in that golden, awkward silence that says: this might be something.

You don’t get that on Hinge.

2. It’s Easier to Be Brave in Nature

There’s something about open space that softens the walls we build.
It’s hard to posture when you’re slightly out of breath and someone just offered you trail mix from their sweaty hand.

Out there, the guard drops.
Not because you’re trying.
Because the pressure’s off.

You don’t have to “be interesting.”
You just have to be with someone, moving, breathing, noticing. And that’s intimacy.
Not the kind that goes straight to romance. The kind that builds real trust.

3. Shared Vulnerability Bonds People Faster

You know what’s more effective than 17 flirty messages and three days of “wyd” texts?

Trying to figure out how to cross a muddy section of trail together.

You laugh. You stumble.
You see how someone responds when plans change, or when a magpie swoops a little too close for comfort.

In just one hike, you learn more about someone’s energy than three weeks of messaging ever could.

That’s what we’re really craving: not information, but feeling.

4. It Gives You Something Back, Even If There’s No Spark

Dating apps leave you drained. Endless scrolling, ghosting, wondering if it’s you.

A singles hike? You leave with fresh air in your lungs. Movement in your body. New faces. Maybe new friends.
And a reminder that your life can still surprise you.

Even if no sparks fly, you’ve spent a morning doing something for you.

And that’s not wasted time.
That’s living.

5. It’s Designed for Grown-Up Lives

Here’s the truth that most dating advice ignores:

Some of us don’t have endless Friday nights to spare.
We have soccer drop-offs. Deadlines. Aging parents. Carpool schedules.

We’re not looking to “put ourselves out there” at a bar where we have to scream over music.
We’re looking for connection that fits into the lives we’re actually living.

A singles hike respects that.
You show up. You walk. You talk.
You leave feeling more alive, not more exhausted.

No profile needed.
No inbox full of “hey.”

Just humans. Outdoors. Open to something real.

The Trail Within: What I Learned (and What I’m Still Learning)

As someone who’s walking this path with you … as a woman juggling work, motherhood, social connection, personal growth, and dating, I’ll admit: I still don’t have the formula.

Some days I feel hopeful.
Some days I’m tired.

But when I host these singles hikes, I’m reminded that connection doesn’t have to be complicated.

It doesn’t need to be perfectly planned. It doesn’t need to happen on your timeline.

It just needs space.

And sometimes the most powerful thing you can do is say:
“Okay. I’ll show up. I’ll walk. I’ll see.”

That’s what these hikes are really about.

Not love at first sight.
But love for a slower pace.
A deeper breath.
And maybe, eventually, someone who’s willing to walk beside you for the long haul.