AIO for uninviting a new friend on a road trip.

Am I Overreacting?

I 34 female and a new friend I made 44 female (we will call her Kim) started talking online in a mutual interest group and decided to become hiking buddies. From the get-go, this person would send a lot of messages and was very praising in the way she talked to me. I thought it was odd, but decided to go with it. She said she had a lot of experience, hiking and we talked about the trips that we’ve each been on. We (probably too quickly) decided to go on a road trip to a national park about eight hours away together and planned the date about 3 months out. This national park is 4 to 5 hours from the nearest airport and extremely remote. I am very familiar with it and have been there about a dozen times but Kim had never been and wasn’t comfortable going alone. There aren’t any hotels around but some small Airbnb‘s and a lodge inside the park. (I don’t want to give too much information about the location in case she’s on Reddit) After getting to know Kim over a couple of months, we were able to meet up one time in person for dinner, but never able to go hiking together. That made me uncomfortable because I felt I was already giving a huge benefit of the doubt to someone. I haven’t spent much time around only just a lot of time talking to over the phone and have never been hiking with.

For context, I am very comfortable alone outdoors and also personally plan all of my trips, meticulously as I tend to go to remote areas and do very strenuous hikes even off-trail. For this trip, I planned everything because I love this national park so much and wanted to give her the best experience possible. I included a detailed itinerary and packing list, which she also requested, and I was happy to do it! To her credit she offered to drive and help pay for gas but since I don’t know her very well I wasn’t comfortable with her driving. As I got to know her, we would often talk about this NP and as the date got closer, we started planning out the equipment we would bring and how much would fit in my car. (She asked to take mine because it’s got more space and doesn’t guzzle gas like her expensive car does) Although we tried to meet up many times she was often busy with other family/friend commitments.

This is where it takes a turn.
The week before the trip we were supposed to meet up to go on a hike together just so we could get a feel for each other’s pace and comfort level that sort of thing, but she ended up canceling. I think it was for another friend or family get together. at that point I was so excited to go.
I let that slide but, when we were talking one day, she said “random question… are you going to use your backseat for anything?”
This question irritated me because we had spent so much time talking about how packed my car was going to be and with what. (This was also one of dozens of instances where I had to re-explain details about the trip/park/hiking preparedness etc to her) I asked “why” and then she said “oh because I would like to stretch my legs out in the back and maybe sleep so I can be comfortable for the long drive.” This sent me a little bit over the edge because after everything that I did to prepare for this trip, she wasn’t even willing to keep me company upfront and I feel that that’s common courtesy. I went ahead and told her that the backseat was going to be full and her response was “oh OK just ignore my silly question lol”
But I couldn’t ignore it, I couldn’t help but feel like I was being treated like an unpaid guide and that maybe she saw me as a free guide. So later that evening, I told her I thought it would be better if we got to know each other better and postpone the trip when I tried to make plans to postpone it with her until fall when I would be able to go again, she said she was busy, October through November because she needed to go visit her family in another country for one month. When I tried to ask which dates she said, she didn’t know because she hadn’t planned it yet and that she just wasn’t available. At that point i decided to go anyway since I was still so excited to go and a family member ended up coming along instead.
Later she asked if we could go hiking together that weekend “since we weren’t going on our trip” I was honest with her and told her I was still going. She just said “oh ok, maybe if I find some friends to go with then I will go” I said ok and that was that.
Then a when k came back she was finally able to meet up with me and a friend for a hike. During the hike my friend Nicole asked “weren’t you supposed to go to NP name with a friend?” And before I could respond Kim said “oh yeah, I just wanted to get to know her better before we go on a trip” and laughed it off. I said nothing because I thought that was a really weird thing to do on Kim’s part.

So..if you made it this far AIO for uninviting Kim or is she giving red flag behavior? Should I stop talking to her? I’m very put off by all this…

Posted Jul 9, 2026, 7:44 PM UTC

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