11 People Whose Hiking and Camping Trips Brought Them Closer to the People Beside Them

Curiosities
11/04/2026
11 People Whose Hiking and Camping Trips Brought Them Closer to the People Beside Them

Outdoor activities can bring out the best in all of us. Even people who wouldn’t think they’d like it can enjoy it. They can find themselves reaffirming and even starting real friendships or strengthening their bonds with family. Some people enjoy camping, while others can find a simple hike to be more than enough. People have also been sharing stories of kindness and kinship while out in the great outdoors.

  • “I was having my own ‘Wild’ moment, hiking the Pacific Crest Trail alone to recover from a brutal breakup. 12 miles at the trailhead, a guy kept glancing my way. He offered to share his food, but I was already full, so I politely declined.
    Ultimately, I turned down a stranger’s food offer 3 times on the trail. He smiled and said, ‘You’ll regret it.’ Hours later at camp, I woke up at 2 AM with him leaning inches from my face and hand covering my mouth. ‘Don’t make a sound,’ he warned, pointing right at something near my head.
    A rattlesnake had slithered into my tent through a small gap. Luckily, he and his friend had spotted it sneaking inside and rushed over to wake me up. I carefully crawled out, and he safely handled the snake.
    Overwhelmed with gratitude, I thanked him profusely and asked how I could ever repay him. He grinned and joked, ‘Maybe allow me to cook a proper dinner after this hike.’ We laughed, stayed in touch after the trip, and have been going on adventures together ever since. Talk about a new friendship!”
Bright Side
  • “My dad took me and my brothers backpacking in North Dakota. My brother was the boldest of us all, never afraid of anything. But as the campfire began to fade, he suddenly screamed. Then he stared into the woods and whispered that he was scared for his life!
    He wasn’t used to how dark it could get at night in the woods. Skies were overcast so things got dark. I was able to calm him down after a while.
    Honestly, we’ve all had a good laugh about it over the years. It’s always nice when a family has something to tease each other about. Really brings people together.”
Bright Side
  • “I have many awesome memories, but I will share one from May this year. I’m a stand-up paddler and love 2-4 days solo trips with all gear on top of my board. Just go with the river!
    At work I have met this awesome lady, much older than me, she is very strict and very professional main accountant. The department I ran at that time was a real pain in her butt, however we became close friends!
    Turned out she was very adventurous, but there was nobody she could go with. Long story short, she also felt in love with SUP, I gave her my advice about the board and all the needed gear and she was ready to go with me.
    At the very beginning of May we had two bank holidays, so there was a long weekend for everybody. The weather was perfect, but there were much less people on the river than normally in season. We spent three days together, paddling, chatting, laughing. Evenings with bonfire and first mosquitos....
    Sometimes when I feel bad, sad and tired I think about that weekend. Happy, adventurous and free.”
  • “Took our three kids (12M, 10M, 6F at the time) on a 7,500 mile, one month, camping trip from Long Island to Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado in 2005. They still talk about it all these years later. Our plan at the time was to create long lasting memories and we were successful.”

What stories of kinship and family have you encountered during an outdoor activity, like camping or hiking?

  • “Eating gumbo out of a Dutch oven while camping when I was in the Boy Scouts. Best gumbo ever.”
  • “Northern Minnesota, private campground between two beautiful lakes. I was about 16. Camping in a trailer with parents and younger sister.
    Our best friends had a trailer on the site next to us. It was a long, beautiful fall. We were the only folks still camping as everyone else had closed up for the season.
    We all had Honda 50s that we road in the State Forest on the old logging roads. Throwing Frisbees, playing horseshoes, hide and seek at dusk in the sumac. Lots of campfires late into the night. The end of childhood during a perfect, endless summer.”
  • “Every year we always went camping as a family...5 girls and our parents. We LOVED it. We would play a game where us girls, OR mom and dad, would get a half hour head start on a hike.
    The first team’s (the one heading out first) object was to only use natural material to give directional clues to the other team’s eventual destination (leaves, sticks, rocks). Those were the best of times.
    When my mom and dad were going thru a divorce, those were VERY hard times for all of us. Our dad took all us girls on a camping trip. We older girls were able to help with the chores that come with camping, setting up tents, cooking, etc.
    Our youngest sister at that time was maybe 4 yrs old. When it was ‘bedtime’, we put her in the middle. We loved sleeping outside the tent.”
  • “I never camped as a kid. I never camped until I met and started dating my second husband. When we met my boys were about four and eight and his daughter was six.
    About 12-15 months in we decided to go camping. We were still kind of trying to merge our kids together and dealing with all the complications of combining lives. Everyone got along, but it was all still very new.
    The trip ended up being unexpectedly really cold. So we spent almost all of one day in the tent, huddled on the mattress together, buried under blankets, listening to music and playing games and at night the kids did a shadow puppet play for us. That trip is when we became a family.”
  • “My wife and I got caught in a massive storm at Evolutionary Lake while hiking the JMT in 2020. Within 30 mins it went from sunny and hot to hail, rain, and lightning. We cowered in our tent for 90 minutes getting progressively more concerned... then it blew thru and we had one of the most gorgeous sunsets of our hike.”
  • “All my camping experiences are unforgettable. Growing up my parents were trying to provide for 5 boys, vacations were always a week of camping in the summer because it was cheaper than staying at some resort. So many memories...
    We camped all over Michigan’s lower and upper peninsulas, Ohio, Kentucky, and Ontario, Canada. Got to see the Niagra falls on the Canadian side, the Mammoth caves in Kentucky, Kings Island and Cedar point multiple times in Ohio, every beautiful place in Michigan and all the touristy spots too.
    The most recent was last June when my younger brother and I went on what turned out to be one of the hottest weekends of the year, high 90s with little to no clouds. We camped at Delaware state park in Ohio about 45 minutes from where our older brother lives and he came to hang out with us after work and on the weekend.
    One of the days we decided to go for a short hike near a lake early in the day after that we collectively also decided we had enough of the heat and went into town to see a movie and sit in the air conditioning. Lol
    In 2018 we stayed at Aloha State Park in the northern part of the lower peninsula of Michigan on Mullet Lake, what a beautiful lake to watch the sunset on. Just as the sun would dip down to the horizon of the lake it would make it look like the sun was a mile long.
    We went up into the UP to hike along the Tehquamenon River which was awesome, I’d seen the lower and upper falls before as a kid but it was a lot different hiking a few dozen feet away from the river itself. Plus the brewery at the upper falls has some amazing beers after a 2.5 hour hike!
    There are so many more unforgettable trips but this post is already long enough. Lol”
  • “My partner and I ended up raising her niece and nephews, and we ended up being the house where all the friends hung out. I tried to take the kids camping on the regular.
    We did a road trip once that included Palo Duro Canyon, the petrified forest, the Grand Canyon, Zion, and Bryce. Will absolutely never forget us getting to the Grand Canyon and the car immediately emptying as our group of six teens/preteens dashed out to take in the view. What a beautiful moment.
    Neither of us ever wanted kids, and we were totally right that parenthood wasn’t our cup of tea — just didn’t have a choice in the matter. That was definitely one of the moments where I understood why people do it.”

Overall, people can really find themselves, each other, and an unforgettable time while out in nature. It also proves that things like kinship, friendship, and family bonds can grow in all sorts of settings. Please share with us any camping or hiking stories you might have with us.

What’s the best trip you’ve ever taken with someone who started out as a stranger? What’s the camping or hiking trip that changed a relationship for you?

Comments

Get notifications
Lucky you! This thread is empty,
which means you've got dibs on the first comment.
Go for it!

Related Reads