2 TikTokers are encouraging people to go 'soft hiking' as an alternative to extra competitive, overly difficult hiking

• Emily Thornton and Lucy Hird are gaining traction for their phrase "soft hiking."
• The term refers to a style of hiking that involves going slowly and listening to one's body.

Two TikTokers have gone viral for coining "soft hiking," a concept they describe as someone hiking and walking through nature at their own pace and taking in the surroundings. Soft hiking is about being kind and gentle to oneself and taking breaks when necessary, they told Insider.

The creators, Emily Thornton and Lucy Hird, are from Yorkshire but are based in Manchester, UK. They met in 2011 in an amateur theater group, they told Insider. The pair first defined the term in a video posted to their account @softgirlswhohike in early April. They said it was "exactly what it says on the tin" — a way for people to hike that's oriented around having a pleasurable time and "the pure joy of spending time in nature" without pushing to the limits.

"A soft hike can be challenging, and it can be difficult, but it's about being kind to yourself mentally and physically and not just rushing from point A to point B in record time," Thornton and Hird told Insider. "Take in your surroundings, listen to your body and enjoy nature."

Their video garnered hundreds of thousands of views and over 50,000 likes, with many commenters writing that they loved the idea and prefer that style of gentle ambling over anything strenuous.

Thornton and Hird said they came up with the phrase while they were on a hike and chatting about how nice it felt to go off trail to look at history plaques or explore intriguing-looking mushrooms.

"We realized how we were on the same page with how we see hiking," they said. "We then said, 'it's kind of like a softer way of hiking — soft hiking.'" When they made the video explaining its definition, they only had 40 followers, they said — they've now rocketed up to over 10,000.

The women have posted multiple other videos, which usually feature them hiking along with information about the route, gentle indie music, and quiet voice-over narrations.

Since their video went moderately viral, other TikTokers have started posting about soft hikes, and the term appears to be picking up steam, although time will tell if it seeps into the wider lexicon.

While the response has been almost overwhelmingly positive, there are also some viewers confused about why "soft hiking" needs to exist as a phrase.

"So… a walk???" one person wrote on the duo's video explaining the definition. "And it can count as you know.. just walking," someone else said.

In the last few years, TikTok has become infamous for spawning endless microgenre labels and identity tags — everything from "soft girls" and the "clean girl aesthetic" to cottagecore and corecore — so it makes sense that "soft hiking" would draw some skeptics, too.

Thornton and Hird argue this concept is important because it reminds people that they aren't required to be a super-serious hiker to enjoy a hike, and they said hikes differ from walks because it's "longer and up rougher terrain and there is a certain amount of effort." They also gestured at how other cultures already have explicit names for this sort of activity (like "spaziergang" in German).

"A lot of our followers commented that they felt self-conscious about themselves, had negative experiences on competitive group hikes, and experienced other obstacles such as chronic illness which were barriers for them," they said. "It is important to acknowledge that everyone faces everyday battles but our main goal is ultimate inclusion."