Hiking with a Stranger I Met on Tinder

Ready? 1, 2, 3. You're so tall! 3. Alright, hold the clip for a second. So the girl on the left is me, Grace, and 24 hours before this video was taken, I had no idea the guy on the right even existed. So, how did we get here? Allow me to explain. But first, I need you to imagine that you are in a brand new city with no friends or contacts, you're a bit of an extroverted introvert, and after several days on your own, you need some meaningful social contact. Well, that was the exact situation I found myself in a few days ago. After seeing several YouTube videos of people asking strangers to do random things like skydiving or getting a matching tattoo, I felt inspired to see if I could find a stranger to go backpacking with. I'd never hiked on the PCT and it seemed like a good option. Established campsites and water sources, and it was probably somewhat populated. I would be with a stranger after all. I might be young and dumb, but I'm not that dumb. ID in hand, it was time to execute. This is how it went. It's just not working. I tried Instagram, searched for an hour or so for people in the Portland area who were hikers, and it's tough. I am not finding anybody. So, I also made a TikTok video a couple days ago, and it got like 200 views, and I was basically just asking somebody to hike with me. Didn't work. With those options clearly not cutting it and time running out to find someone before the following day, I decided it was time to get a little creative or set myself up for a really bad outcome and absolute death as my friends pointed out. This is the part where I pose a question to you. What resources do we all have that allows us to see many people in our age range with our interests that are also in our area? Tinder! Yeah, I realized that was a bad idea, but my other options were exhausted. So it was time to do what I swore I never would do. Alright, so I'm setting up a Tinder profile because I think that's probably going to be the most efficient method of finding somebody to hike with me because people in cities Sorry, this is really probably loud. People in cities just generally aren't as keen to do stuff with strangers, I would say. So I created my account, added a few pictures that seemed appropriate to my intentions, if you get what I'm trying to say, wrote out a bio, and let the waiting game begin. After waiting an hour or so and learning that we both had to air quotes like each other before we could message, this happened. I got somebody! Enter Cesar. My first like and my first match. This seems off to a good start and definitely better than scouring Instagram or trying to get a TikTok video to go viral. As soon as we matched, he sent a message. Me! Sign me up for the PCT hike. I'm ready for it. Okay! Confidence and enthusiasm. I like to see it. I'll save you from the horror of having to watch me lose my mind over the fact that I found someone because it looked something like this and this. Eventually I managed to compose myself enough to find a time to meet him for the first time and plan the hike. REI 7 o'clock. So I am meeting up with Cesar at 7. It is 5.46 so that did not focus at all but it is 5.46. I have about an hour before I meet up with him. I am gonna run to Planet Fitness really quick. Try and get a quick workout in and then I guess I'm gonna go meet this complete stranger. All I had to do was get through the next hour without failing. I'm on my way to meet Cesar right now. I just left Planet Fitness. I'm running a little behind. So nervous. Now this is the part where my vlogging skills are not quite up to par yet because I may not have filmed our first encounter but I did get this clip of us walking up the steps of REI. In an effort to keep this moving and get to the part we are all waiting for, I'm going to bring you up to speed quickly. REI did not have anything we needed for the overnight hike so we decided to bail on that idea. But Cesar came prepared with a list of places his co-workers had suggested. On the list was Dog Mountain. After taking a quick look on all trails, we decided that was the winner. I need to change. So, goodbye. I'm five minutes away from picking Cesar up to go on our hike. So excited. You ready? Yeah, I'm ready. Let's do this. Okay, Dog Mountain. With the stranger, a.k.a. Cesar, picked up, we made the hour-long drive to Dog Mountain. Along the way, we found an epic spot that we had to stop at for a few minutes to get all the pictures before continuing on to Dog Mountain. Before long, we pulled into the parking lot and were greeted by quite a few other cars at the trailhead. AllTrails wasn't lying when they said it was a popular hike. After grabbing the essentials, water, raincoat, and most importantly snacks, it was time to hit the trail. According to AllTrails, Dog Mountain trail is about six and a half miles long and I quote, essentially a straight and steady leg burner of a route. Sounds fun. Let's go. Cesar started off at record pace and by that I mean running and I well, you'll probably understand best if I just play this video with sound. So this is how far we've gone so far. 0.28. A quarter? A quarter of a mile. Only six and a quarter to go. It doesn't stop. Woo. And while I can't speak for Cesar about this and neither one of us was going to admit this in the moment, we definitely were taking some nice scenic breaks to enjoy the views. Which really translated to just trying to catch our breath. So let's pull out our phones and take pictures. I think the next one is pretty cool to go. It's like an opera. What's the call? I think more difficult. More difficult? Why not? Let's do it. If we die, the people know that we went on the more difficult route. That's right. That's all that matters. Can't stop now. Can't stop. Yup, got something else for you. Alright. On your mark, get set, go. So, to the next ranger that hikes with Grace, be ready. Cause I was not. Gotta be prepared. You never know what's coming up. 2.7 miles. We're so close. Speed's picking up. Once we got to the top we found an actual jungle so we weren't able to complete the loop. But I'll give us some good credits. We made it pretty far. It's pretty overgrown. I feel like this is the end of our loop. Stop right there and eat some clip bars. Loop mostly complete and snacks eaten, it was time to begin the approximate three mile hike down. It was almost easier to run than walk so we made pretty good time on the way down. Nearing the end and without a proper YouTube introduction, it was time for a little Q&A with Cesar. Where are you from? I'm from Austin, Texas. Where's the craziest place you've hiked? The craziest and most challenging one would be the Grand Canyon. Grand Canyon. What is the top place to visit on your bucket list? Either Patagonia or Iceland. What are your favorite things to do except for hiking? So, I guess moving up here, I really want to get into like overlanding, get into mountain biking, you know, I like to paddle board, so I'm trying to find some pretty cool chill lakes to do that. Just get close to nature. If you're from the area, comment all the good spots for Cesar. Anywhere on the Pacific Northwest, let me know. What is the craziest thing that you've ever done? That's another tough one. The thing was the solo trip, the solo backpacking trip to Thailand. That was the craziest. That's crazy. Way out of my comfort zone. But it was honestly the best experience I've ever had in my life. And I would do it all over again. Would you go hiking, I don't know if I want to ask this question again, or this question. Would you go hiking with a stranger again? Yeah. Yeah? Yeah. Yeah, no. Like after watching yesterday, that just motivates me to just meet people from all backgrounds and just be well-rounded. After 2,850 feet of elevation gain and 6.65 miles hiked, we made it back to the trailhead. No longer strangers, but friends. Although neither one of us had ever done anything like this, we decided to embrace our fears and vulnerability to create memories and stories that will last forever. What better way to close out the video than let my new friend, Cesar, leave you with a few words of wisdom. Only gain from experiences. You have nothing to lose.