The Hiking Group

Anyone can go hiking for a hike, but you sign up for a hiking group for the people. I signed up for a MeetUp hiking group a few weeks ago and went on the first group hike a couple weeks later. It was a 7.5 mile, 4-hour strenuous hike. The average age of the group was pushing 50 years old. We briefly meet in the parking lot and immediately start the hike...no real introductions. As I'm going along the desert trails and rocks I'm quietly listening to the chatter around me while feeling the intense burning in my thighs and I am HIT with the feeling that I'm in a movie. I'm surrounded by very familiar personalities and conversations. I later realize that all these movies I've seen where the characters are in a certain situation and all their life experiences are pouring trying to figure things out as a group is happening in my midst. My case is this: it starts as a couple of us get ahead of the group and get a little off-track, it's the typical personalities, the maverick old hiker, the young, adventurous, handsome newbie and an eager woman who just wants to keep things moving. Then the 'middle' group catches up made up of the tight 3-4 people who've been on this hike and with this group many times before and know to just wait for the leader. Then the leader and the slowpokes come ambling up the trail. Once we all gather it comes out..."the movie personalities". This is where I realize the writers of movies and books base their characters on real people they know in real life. And these personalities are universal...I laugh to myself. This is neat. I really start to pay attention to the others and quietly get involved in their conversations...I'm watching a movie about 10-12 people on a hike through the Nevada desert. There's no real drama or danger, just 10-12 people hiking, talking, dealing with small obstacles and a dog that doesn't want to continue on the hike because he's tires, feet are bleeding etc. There's just enough conflict to get everyone engaged and interacting. As we move along I'm talking to more people and enjoying the pleasure of engaging the characters around me and manipulating the script.
We're all real characters. We're not figments of some one's imagination...I and they are real. We're all recurring characters because we're made up of the finite elements that make up real humans...this is amazing. This is what group outings and civilization is about.
The only thing I'm afraid of is that I'm building these people up in my mind, adding more layers and complexities than what really exist. I worry that next time I join them they might appear flat and lifeless...2 dimensional. I guess I to have to make sure I find out and go on another hike because I can't get these people out of my head.