The New York Times Shifting Careers Blog today has an interesting little piece by Sarah Milstein, business manager at weird-stuff blog BoingBoing. Ms. Milstein happened across an idea–the notion of urban gatherings and meetings on the hoof, “hiking” between points of interest in town while discussing stuff: personal, business–sounds like the topic doesn’t matter.
The history, walking and curiosity points of my personality find this appealing. The article suggests researching waypoints on Wikipedia, gathering a group of perhaps 5-10 people, and organizing via email or a wiki.
“Not only have the outings turned out to be a fun way to burn calories and learn city secrets, but they’ve also helped us keep in touch with people from different parts of our lives and introduce them to each other. Often, our hikes feel more like peripatetic cocktail parties than excuses to exercise.”
However, there is some interesting dissent in the comments, with some claiming that this isn’t a new idea at all but a mindless rehash and over-thinking of a basic long walk.
I am on Ms. Milstein’s side, however, and would find this an enjoyable event in Portland. What do you guys think? Fun, learning opportunity? Or saccharine notion of networking forced too far?
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I love this idea. I did an urban/Portland park hike with a friend recently. Started in the Pearl and ended up at the visitor’s center at the Hoyt Arboretum. Great thing about Portland is that an urban hike doesn’t always have to be on pavement. More than half of this hike was on nature trails.
I’d do it (with apologies to Nike).
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