“Just spreading the love on trail one awkward interaction at a time,” wrote the cofounders of Optiventure in an Instagram post. The pair decided to say “hi” to every person they saw on the trail that day with a greeting starting with a different letter of the alphabet each time, running from A to Z. For example, they kicked off with “ahoy” and ended up asking where they could get some zucchini fries. The interactions on the trail got a bit awkward at times.
Some of my personal favorites include when they asked if a man’s shirt said the name of their brand, Optiventure (it didn’t), and when they said to some fellow hikers, “Underwhelming view today!” Which, even though it was foggy, is kind of an odd thing to say to strangers.
Some people in the videos’ comments sections mention how everyone on the trail was such a good sport. Though it was a bit awkward, most people just smiled and nodded or came up with something to say back.
“This actually eases my social anxiety, you can just say anything and people are like yeah!” wrote one person.
Another person recognized herself in one of the videos, and they all had a good laugh about how weird the whole thing was.
Check out the awkward A-Z trail interactions here:
Here’s part two of the awkward trail interactions (M-Z):