I’m sure there are plenty of hikers out there who like to go at a certain pace. Everyone has their preference.
However, there are those instances where you might be hiking with someone or with a group and there is someone who can’t quite keep up for whatever reason.
Personally, it doesn’t bother me. For example, when I used to take group sout with The Hiking Society MeetUp group or when I ran the adventure company, I was always conscious of how everyone was feeling.
As you can imagine being a hike leader, I had a responsibility for the people I am with to ensure they arrive back at their car safely and without injury.
Further to that point, I make sure any hiker who is interested in coming alone knows what they are getting themselves in for by including as much detail about the hike as I possibly can.
This might include information about hills, the overall difficulty of the trail, etc. I really want to make sure that they can make an informed decision either way.
However, you might be hiking with someone who falls behind a little every now and again.
The way I tackle this – regardless if I am hiking with that person only or if they are one person out of a group of people – is that I make a point of dropping back and walking with them.
Because let’s face it, there is nothing worse than feeling like you are by yourself when everyone else is ahead of you.
More often than not, I would lead from the back of the group and become the “sweeper” at the same time. That way if someone was taking a little longer than the others that they at least didn’t feel like they were falling behind.
The flip side of this is that you might get someone who is okay for the group to get a little bit further ahead.
My only advice to those people is that they must know where the rest of the group is heading so they don’t get lost.
But this is just one way of doing it. If you take groups out for hikes, what do you do when someone falls behind?
