Hiking alone?

make sure you tell your bf where EXACTLY you are going, when you'll be back, etc. bring a whistle (if you get injured, lost etc so your voice doesn't go hoarse, or use it if it does) a compass, etc... maybe a weapon of some sort if you can use it, at least a pocket knife. i'm sure you know hiking safety but just... be careful. there was a local guy who went hiking somewhere in colorado i think, alone, didn't tell anybody he was going or anything, his arm got crushed by a boulder and he had to cut it off to get free and nobody even knew to look for him.... so yeah, don't put yourself in THAT situation. as long as you're cautious it should be great i agree with what a lot of ppl have already said.

 

Speaking of whistles, there a whistle known as the Fox 40 that doesn't have a bead that can clog up. You can hear it about a mile away. We use them when kayaking.

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Your opinion does count. You do bring up important points. Being out in the wilderness has dangers. Like others have said, it all depends on the risks you are willing to take. Hiking with someone else is going to be safer, but hiking alone is a different experience and can be safe too. While things do happen there are still a lot more people that hike alone and come out fine than those that get hurt or die. One needs to decide what they are willing to risk and prepare. You are probably right that we are generalizing for our area. Here the animal to look out for is the black bear. People do get killed by them, but it is usually because they were doing something very stupid, thinking bears are cuddly creatures instead of wild animals. I have luckily never came upon one though the rangers do say that they are easy to scare off. Still there are other dangers.

I hear that Middle Tennessee has some wonderful and popular places to hike. I have not made it out that way myself, but I am sure if you do some searching you are bound to find something not too far away that you might be able to do sometime soon. Fall is a perfect time to be hiking and camping in Tennessee.

 

Jeepers...
On another note I must caution all against breathing
Such an activity has been known to bring about death - which we all know we need to go to great lengths to avoid by any means possible
We must sacrifice our quality of life to the maintaining of the dull and safe.

Common sense was once prized
independence and adventure were once looked for.

Now we talk of being safe and huddle together trying to maintain lives without much meaning

Come on - So many through out time have gone places alone

YES you may die - guess what - we all have to some time or another
Much better that you live a life you appreciate and feel good about than the dull, lifeless, and safe

Fear is the mind killer
Fear keeps us from taking chances
Fear....

I still go off by myself and always will. I seldom tell any where I'm going - And I accept the consequences - my happiness and the adventure it brings to my life.
Yah I have siblings that shake their heads (after all I'm no longer the young man - though obviously still just as foolish).
I am the fool....I am the nomad hermit, solitary on the mountain top
My life is an adventure and I shall maintain my appreciation and commune in private with nature and the wonderful spaces found therein. I have talked with the bear, the wolf , the coyote; sat with the snake, the tarantula, and the scorpion, I have been honored to be at the mating flight of eagles and have been held safe in the midst of some of natures fiercest storms.
I treasure those times and will be held back by nothing - especially not the fears of others who see and dwell in fearsome possibilities - thereby drawing just those things to themselves and having to take such onerous measures to insure their safety.

Be safe, but above all be free and build your fire for life - Enjoy

Blessings along the Way - the lessons we Learn

Namaste

 

this apparently is a thread where egotistical expression tries to deceive people with no backwoods common sense to take a chance with their lives that have little or no experience going into the wilderness alone. So I'll add this. Just walking along here in this country area my head has suddenly turned to the exact spot 300 yards away either a person or an animal was located. Sometimes they were looking at me, sometimes not. I recognize this as an ability that everyone does not have.

A bear can smell a candy bar in a wrapper in your pocket sleeping in a small tent while you are sleeping and you will be attacked. A bear at Jack Ass Flats in Sequoia put his tooth mark thru a deck of cards thinking it was another candy bar in the shoebox. You'd have a hard time pounding a nail thru a deck of cards. What if a bear decided to mistake your sleeping hand for a candy bear and ripped it off, you'd bleed to death. Without a buddy to apply pressure, get you calm and go for a helicopter evacuation, you would die. And I can really care less about the idealistic attitudes of bygone eras with mountain men and women who settled this country, many are dust, long forgotten by anyone, tripped over a rock, died in a flash flood or whatever. They aren't around to warn anybody.
What doesn't jive is anyone with a computer posting here is no more a hermit and a nomad at the moment than Hiltler was a saint.
Sure there are cellphones and satellite locators.blah..blah..blah.....on and on.....
wihtout edjucating any person first BEFORE giving them the pep talk about how fear stops people from hiking into the wilderness alone it would be a real cool idea if you made a real clear point of providing a comprehensive link on all the info that would be helpful......and quit playing the I got a little secret game, the I'm so brave game and the I'm better than thou game because I've done it.........

There is a possibility someone reading this thread could be influenced to try it without even checking into anything just off the fine idealistic cliches here. I'm here to make sure that doesn't happen.

Reminds me peer pressure to do hard drugs and no one is around who has done it and stopped to tell you what might happen.... that is really a lifestyle fuckup.
Yeah slipping off a wet boulder jumping across a stream, hitting your head and drowning is really a lifestyle fuckup too I'd say.

yeh..
Be safe, but above all be free and build your fire for life - Enjoy

Blessings along the Way - the lessons we Learn

Namaste
__________________
Life is an opportunity and becomes what you make of it

May the Light of Love ever Guide your Way
Grow on ... Enjoy !

Peace Blessings
Love

and all that too

 

When I say prepare I mean to do research. To give general advice is difficult because there are all kinds of levels from the very new beginner to the experienced and then each area is different and requires different knowledge. To cover everything would require more than a post. Whole books are written on it. So you can't put blame on us for someone else who just took this thread and ran with it without asking or searching. So do a search on the net of where you want to go. If you are going to a park talk to a ranger. They can tell you all kinds of information and are usually more than willing to help. After you have prepared, then you can experience the ideal. But one should not be so focused on what ifs that they can't enjoy nature.

To the OP, how far are you wanting and/or willing to travel?

 

yeah I knew with you posting here I should have kept all the personal stuff out - i've seen you in action elsewhere - but I felt it's important during this time of overcautiosness and co-dependency to let people know the difference that opening yourself to nature can bring.
And going alone is still the best way to do it. I did not emphasize the common sense part because I thought it was more than adequarely covered.
What I was majorly focusing on was the fear factor and wet blanket that goes on when people start to open to themselves. Seems like some buy into this fear culture and are hell bent on keeping people from Growing beyond the narrow strictures this society pushes at you. You probably have a better chance of getting more seriously hurt driving a car - and I bet you don't go around waving red flags about that.

Empowering the individual is a good thing - it does not mean that you do it without any forethought or common sense - but nature need be feared much less than the world of man.

Be true to yourSelf - pay attention to your heart - use common sense, be prepared by looking at what you're proposing - and Do.
Letting the naysayers and fear stop you, will keep you from coming into a place of wholeness and self-reliance that few in these times dare gather to themselves.

Blessings Be with all.

Namaste

 

You probably have a better chance of getting more seriously hurt driving a car - and I bet you don't go around waving red flags about that. - old wolf

Actually I have warned people about the highest % of deaths related to traffic accidents, falling asleep at the wheel. And of course more people get hurt driving a car, more people drive a car than hike alone in the outbacks mate.
I agree with fear being a limiting factor in todays society. The lack of imagination is also a limiting factor, how many people even think of jumping out of a hot air balloon on a bungee cord?
I'm glad we met, so to speak, I'm sure we'd have some very interesting stories about our experiences to tell each other if we ever crossed paths on a trail and lingered in the starlight watching embers crackle into the darkened ebb of piney wisps.

peace
Honor

 

http://www.campersbackpack.com/site/746610/page/173180

and a list of hiking clubs

http://www.campersbackpack.com/site/746610/page/512344

 

i went hiking one day, in the north of india, alone, with out telling anybody... ok, wasn't overnight, and also, i'm a bit older (34), but do not have any hiking experience, and i had no dog either.
BUT!.... what a beautiful experience. I was 5 month in india, and that was my favorite day...! but, yes, you are a bit young, thats true, life experience is always good, maybe you try first with one friend, and you know, so you just get a feeling of what's it's all about..... i think you should do it w somebody....

 

A bear can smell a candy bar in a wrapper in your pocket sleeping in a small tent while you are sleeping and you will be attacked.

Hysteria, anyone?

As all outdoorspeople know, the real hazard about going to bed with a candy bar in your pocket is that the candy melts.

 

The bears in New England are nicer than the bears on the west coast.

 

A more accurate comparison would be, "The bears in New England will run if you wear a bearbell on your pack. The bears on the west coast will eat you, then pick their teeth and wipe their ass with your bearbell."

East coast bears are pussies.

 

An Old Farmer's Advice:

* Your fences need to be horse-high, pig-tight and bull-strong.
* Keep skunks and bankers and lawyers at a distance.
* Life is simpler when you plow around the stump.
* A bumble bee is considerably faster than a John Deere tractor.

..the last bit of advice reminds me that someone said you can get away from a bear running downhill.........

hey Zoomie....cool cap u got 4 your b-day I saw in the gallery!

 

Thanks! It's my "Drinking at the Irish Pub" hat.

I don't wear it nearly often enough.