I have been an avid hiker my entire adult life. While I do enjoy group outings and sharing a nice campfire sometimes I like a night under the stars alone. The downside is obvious; injury, mis-navigation, negative encounters, etc. I always follow strict rules on day or overnight yaking or hiking trips. 1.Always leave specific details with someone as to where you are going, for how long, and when you plan to return. 2.Never wear headphones or anything that will block out noise around you. Check weather and river conditions before leaving. 3.Bring more food and water then you think you’ll need. 4.Always have a good understanding of the location you are headed, and if you don’t have a map be aware of the navigational challenges that are in front of you. 4. Always bring a good first aid kit with a space blanket, various bandages, a cleaning agent, and an epi pen if you have certain allergies, etc. 5. Headlight comes with me even on day trips as well as good flint and fire starting tools.
I don’t worry about negative animal encounters, the overall chance of an attack is really low, especially in the Pines. Simple rules follow here as well though. 1. Wear or bring a whistle, most animals HATE the shrill call and it alerts others to your location. 2. Don’t try and be to quite, it leads to surprised animals and the encounters can be dangerous. 3. Bear bag your food----always. I won’t hike anywhere without rope hanging my food. 4. Don’t ever run from a bear, elk, bison, or other large animal. Instinct will kick in and it will chase you down. 5. Just because an animal isn’t bear size does not mean it won’t be a danger to you or destroy gear. I’m not personally down with the Bowie knife kind of thing (I’m an ounce counter on the trail), but I bring an excellent multi-tool, and always have my trekking poles or walking stick. If you do have a negative encounter make noise and make yourself loud and large.
The BEST solo moment of the recent past----
A bear breaking trail up at Mt. Minsi in North NJ on the A.T. (spring 09). Not my first bear encounter, but almost everyone feels like the first.
Copperhead encounter on the A.T. up at Pinnacle in the Lehigh valley (summer 08). An elusive beautiful snake that let me know who was boss. A toss of his head and I gave him the trail, I had to go way out of my way, but it was well worth it.
The WORST solo moment of the recent past----
I hiked the 60 mile Loyalsock Trail in N.Eastern PA two years ago. It is a difficult trail filled with switchbacks, tough water issues at spots, and treacherous ankle biting rocks PA is notorious for. For me, that kind of solo is not only a challenge, but something to be proud of on completion. The morning of the 5th day I was ready to move on. The last site off of the trail is beautiful, up high with an excellent view. Well, I was having my tea and thinking about the trip when all of a sudden a bible camp showed up. They see me, bedraggled from 5 trail days and started whispering. The leader came up to me said hello and asked if I minded if they started singing. I said yes and he did a double take. “Yes you mind” he said, “Yes I did” I said. I explained after almost a week on the trail I just wanted my last little bit of time to go with some peace and quite. He said “you know young man we wait all week for this and that’s not a very Christian attitude.” I said “first, I’m not Christian, I am pagan” gasp horror. “But if you asks me the Christian thing to do would respect me for the next fifteen minutes until I leave. Then you can sing all morning if you like” The singing started anyway………
:rofl: