# Soft hiking

> A TikTok explainer from an account with 40 followers led to soft-hiking posts and meetups.

- Owner: Emily Thornton and Lucy Hird / Soft Girls Who Hike
- Kind: Activity
- Sector: Health & fitness
- Seed date: 2023-04-09
- Peak date: Week of Apr 16, 2023
- Date basis: Dates use the stated precision; chart positions are date anchors.
- Spread Score: 48 (Notable, provisional), v1.2
- Mechanics: Maker origin, Identity badge, Platform jump, Press loop, Controversy

## Summary

Emily Thornton and Lucy Hird explained soft hiking on TikTok in April 2023. Other creators posted hikes, and press covered the trend. It led to community meetups, brand features and consideration on Cambridge’s New Words blog.

## Timeline

- 2023-04-09 — @softgirlswhohike (TikTok) — Emily Thornton and Lucy Hird posted their soft-hiking explainer in reply to a viewer.
- 2023-04-12 — Bustle (Press) — Bustle covered soft hiking as a TikTok trend and described the duo’s explainer.
- 2023-04-15 — @fionathehappymushroom (TikTok) — Fiona tagged her Undercliff spring-walk video #softhiking.

The full timeline, metrics and sources are on the case page, or via the Pro API (https://howitspread.com/developers).

Canonical URL: https://howitspread.com/cases/soft-hiking

Cite as: How It Spread (2026). “Soft hiking.” Case HIS-00650. Spread Score v1.2: 48/100. Updated 2026-10-14. https://howitspread.com/id/HIS-00650