I didnt see your post until after I wrote mine.
Yes!
I cant think of any better place to meet, AND BECOME FRIENDS WITH, lots of men…and other kinds of people.
The main Happy Valley I know of is State College PA but maybe there is another.
Let me add fishing to the list. If you are in an appropriate state, something like a Trout Unlimited Chapter. Flyfishing, in particular, is more than just hooking things; there is related art, crafting the flies, and a lot of other chances to meet an assortment of men and interact with them on a year-round basis.
If you have a strong love of history, try “living history”. Again, a fair number of unattached me, lots of reasons to interact on a casual basis to see what they are like, and depending on the era you recreate there are some beautiful places to do it at.
For the geek side:
Role playing clubs
SCA (Society for Creative Anachronisms - the dress up like its the middle ages and hit each other with duct tape swords - its cooler than my lame description makes it sound - at least to the people who do it).
Mensa
Science Fiction/Fantasy Clubs (Lit or Media)
If one is so inclined, church.
I’m mid-20s if that makes a difference and yes, Happy Valley = State College, PA. So most of the people here are younger than I am.
I wouldn’t say I hate sports, I just never really got started and I don’t enjoy exercise for it’s own sake.
There are lots of ideas here that I wouldn’t have gotten to on my own. Thanks all!
A photography for beginners class would probably involve a certain amount of interaction and you’d get a chance to show your personality by the types of pictures you take and show.
This is good to hear- I’m doing this next weekend.
I’d second (third, whatever) the hiking idea. One reason that a lot of people don’t enjoy sports is because they’ve primarily been exposed to “gym class” sports and not outdoor and non-competitive sports. Hiking is good exercise, but not “exercise for its own sake.”
Also, Susanann and Rack-a-Bones make good points with regard to finding activities which are inherently social and won’t require you to uncomfortably “make conversation.” Hiking is great in that regard, as people will generally just randomly chat with whoever is going at their pace. If nothing else, you’ll meet lots of nice people and maybe expand your social circle in general.
Best of all–there’s (virtually) no investment in trying it. You don’t have to buy equipment or pay for a class or commit the time for an ongoing thing. Sneakers, a water bottle, and some sort of backpack are all you need for an easy day hike. You might have to pay some nominal dues to join the club. If you don’t like it, you’ve wasted virtually nothing. If you do like it, buying boots and a decent daypack is cheap compared to lots of other sports. You should find some hiking clubs online or ask at your local outdoor store. Also, the AMC usually does hikes.
If you like hiking, you can explore other outdoor sports. It’s usually easy to find one-day introductory classes for things like kayaking and rock climbing. (You’re so close to Ohiopyle, you lucky girl! It’s an outdoor mecca.)
Games are also a good idea. They also allow you to socialize in a way that isn’t forced or uncomfortable.
In most areas the Sierra club has hikes that are free and open to anyone, not just members. I expect they have a local chapter in State College, you can check their website to find contact info.
I belong to three model clubs: a model car club, IPMS Seattle–mostly airplane and tank modellers, and a science-fiction model club sponsored by a local hobby shop. All are full of great guys, and more than a few eccentrics 
.
Building models is a fun, craft-y thing to do, and the clubs are full of helpful, friendly people. If you’re trying to meet men, I should also mention that the membership is almost exclusively male. You might be dubious about building models, since model building seems to be a “guy thing”. But you might enjoy it; I refer you to this post:
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=10242927&postcount=35
And this site:
I see no one has mentioned the one that first popped into my head: “The Hair Club for Men.” But then, I just perused the “Combover” thread, so that may have something to do with it.
An ex-gf gave me some re-bound advice and I think that it applies.
…Think of the kind of person that you want to be around. Think of what they’d be doing. Then do that.
Remember, if you want to be involved in a lasting relationship, you will have to accept and/or participate in your SO’s hobbies/passtimes.
Just my 0.02
Huh?
HOw are you going to meet people well enough to be friends with them by taking up hiking, fishing, or kayaking?
…and no offense to others, but building models is about as exciting to a young healthy woman as stamp collecting.
Ive been hiking and fishing my whole life, and I try to avoid stranger people when I do those things, and so do most other fishermen and hikers. Hey!..they are great activities to do when you already have a bunch of friends, but I dont see how you are going to get new friends by doing it.
I also love riding horses, but today, its pretty much a great way to mostly meet young girls.
I still stick to my sportsman club idea. Besides, lots of the shooting events are in “teams”, where you almost have to meet other people if you are going to play. You usually are also “required” to spend so many hours per year running and helping out at the sportsman clubs, so you are again forced to be with other members at the shooting events, at the dinners, at the meetings, at the dances, etc.
Fishing, hiking, etc are activities where women, or just about any stranger is usually unwelcome at best.
Getting involved with the shooting sports is where men are going to want to be around you.
Besides, shooting sports has a great divrese cross section of people to meet and become lifetime friends with, young, old, married, single, fathers, mothers, lawyers, doctors, plumbers, computer programmers, factory workers, etc.
Shooting is also VERY cheap, if you start out with just a .22.
What kind of jerks do you “not” hang out with ?
Every activity club I’ve ever been involved in always had a decent fraction, if not a majority of “experienced” folks who liked nothing more than organize things for the timid or inexperienced or lazy or poor or new folks to take part in.
Sure, there were the jerks that didnt like anyone or looked down on outsiders or just did their own damn thing and to heck with anybody else, but they were definitely a fairly small minority.
I like this. It’s a better question, I think.
This isn’t so far-fetched. Going hiking alone isn’t going to help anyone meet people, but there’s a club on campus for outdoorsy activities and it would be a great way to meet guys if they weren’t all college kids.
The AYH (American Youth Hostels) used to have a pretty good age range of members and was a little heavy towards men. Don’t know the stats today but here is their website.
Men want women nearby when they’re shooting guns but not when we’re catching fish or walking through the woods? I’m sure that’s true of some men but why would one assume it’s true of the sorts of men Giltathriel wants to meet?
Yeah, OK, I agree that a college hiking club is great, and I knew of several of them in years gone by. Most college kids are all the same age, all single, all kinda athletic or basically in good enough shape.
If you are 20 years old and in college, go for it! Ditto for college travel clubs.
But once you are out of college, those clubs are few and far between that match your skill sets, that match your age grouping, and match your athletic abilities.
But as far as regular hiking, for the most part, we do NOT normally go hiking into our parks, our forests, valleys, mountains, canyons, to meet and be with other people - We do it to get away from other people!
I dunno, but its true.
Frankly, I am not sure I would want to go into the woods alone in order to find other men alone out there , who want women to come to them.
As far as fishing, ok, get yourself a boat, get up at 4 in the morning, and try to find a group of men fishing, who are single, and who want you fishing so close to them that you can talk to them. About what I have no idea, but I doubt that they are really going to want to talk to you… Its just the way it is.
Shooting guns? Men just love to be around and get to know women who shoot or want to learn how to shoot. Men are also proud of wives and daughters who shoot.
It just is.