Walking Alone

[the_camera_poser]

I'm just curious- please find a poll attached

[Son of a Beach]

I'm sort of in between the only well used tracks and the anywhere options. I do occasionally go solo on little used routes and even on easier off-track areas, but I'm not as hard core as some people on here, and there definitely are plenty walks I would not do alone. I always leave a clear description of my intended route with somebody (so that will most likely be able to find me, dead or alive). Of course a PLB/EPIRB should be carried to increase the probability that it would be alive, rather than dead.

[eggs]

There is a time element with this one.

Many years ago I went on several day walks on my own on the wild west coast and probably still would as long as someone knew my details.
I was a bit foolish back then and on one mountain (Mt Geikie) I almost busted my knee cap. If that had happened I would be a skeleton amongst the rocks today.

So I think it is important to at least let people know what you are doing and of course, now we can have EPIRBs and mobile phones that were not around back then.
Being from interstate, I am now always travelling with others anyway, so practically the answer is Never.
Brian

[flyfisher]

I'm in the same camp as SOB really because I will camp solo on fishing trips in the western lakes where sometimes I'm well away from tracks.
Company is usually nicer though but if no-one to go with I'll still go.
FF

[Steve]

So far I've only ever walked solo on day trips, I can see myself doing some overnighters by my self in the future as lack of people wanting to go on longer overnighter trips.

[tasadam]

These days I do not walk alone because I always go with my wife.
I used to - I've done such overnight walks as almost to the summit of Anne, and Frenchmans by myself. That was before mobile phones and PLB's were readily available.
Would I walk alone now - yes. But I would be mindful of going off-track and I would certainly leave detailed plans with someone.
I'm not as bullet proof now as I was in my 20's.
My wife sometimes does day walks by herself - usually on well populated or formed tracks such as Roland, and Cradle area like Marions or the other side (mind gone blank, can't remember name of lookout).
And I always know where she is and she has her phone.

[Son of a Beach]

I've always been a bit of a loner, and really enjoy being out bush on my own (I enjoy being out with others as well, both ways are different, and both are good). However, since I've been married, I find that I do actually start to get a bit lonely after a few days out on my own. It's rather annoying in some ways (don't get to appreciate the bush for long walks on my own as much), but I guess it's a good thing (having a family you love enough to miss them when you're away).

So I still enjoy solo walks, but any more than 3 days completely alone and I start missing my family. If I'm with other people (family or not), I don't have the same problem, so these days I don't walk solo as often as I used to.

[scockburn]

I do not walk alone too often and certainly not alone off track in remote areas -yet. I love the peace and quiet and sense of being alone yet confident in the knowledge that I know what to do to be safe and comfortable alone.I also love being out with groups of competent walker and learning from their skills. The group I walk with have had a few serious incidents and accidents lately where helicopter extraction has occurred due to broken bones from slips and falls. This really has brought home to me the risks of going off track alone.The rescue people are remarkable !!
Not too sure how to really describe this but also sometime when I'm out alone for a little while , I sometimes get a little "spooked". Not enough to put me off or anything like that but just enough to make me think and be aware that I am alone. Does anyone else know that feeling? Steve C

[tas-man]

<SNIP>
Not too sure how to really describe this but also sometime when I'm out alone for a little while , I sometimes get a little "spooked". Not enough to put me off or anything like that but just enough to make me think and be aware that I am alone. Does anyone else know that feeling? Steve C

You are touching on something interesting here, and something that rarely gets discussed in bushwalking circles, ie what are the REAL reasons for some of us to get out into the wilderness by ourselves. Here is a quote I read back in the 1970's from W. H. Hudson's autobiography, "Far Away and Long Ago" that I remember got me thinking about some of my experiences of being alone in the bush in my younger days.

"It was not, I think, till my eighth year that I began to be distinctly conscious of something more than this mere childish delight in nature. It may have been there all the time from infancy. I don't know; but when I began to know it consciously it was as if some hand had surreptitiously dropped something into the honeyed cup which gave it at times a new flavour. It gave me little thrills, at times purely pleasurable, at other times startling, and there were occasions when it became so poignant as to frighten me. The sight of a magnificent sunset was sometimes more than I could endure and made me wish to hide myself away. The feeling, however, was evoked more powerfully by trees than by any other sight; it varied in power according to the time and place and the appearance of the tree or trees, and always affected me most on moonlight nights. Frequently after I had first begun to experience it consciously, I would go out of my way to meet it, and I used to steal out of the house alone when the moon was at its full to stand, silent and motionless, near some group of large trees, gazing at the dusky green foliage silvered by the beams; and at such times the sense of mystery would grow until a sensation of delight would change to fear, and the fear increase until it was no longer to be borne, and I would hastily escape to recover the sense of reality and safety indoors, where there was light and company."

[Son of a Beach]

<SNIP>
Not too sure how to really describe this but also sometime when I'm out alone for a little while , I sometimes get a little "spooked". Not enough to put me off or anything like that but just enough to make me think and be aware that I am alone. Does anyone else know that feeling? Steve C

You are touching on something interesting here, and something that rarely gets discussed in bushwalking circles, ie what are the REAL reasons for some of us to get out into the wilderness by ourselves. Here is a quote I read back in the 1970's from W. H. Hudson's autobiography, "Far Away and Long Ago" that I remember got me thinking about some of my experiences of being alone in the bush in my younger days.

"It was not, I think, till my eighth year that I began to be distinctly conscious of something more than this mere childish delight in nature. It may have been there all the time from infancy. I don't know; but when I began to know it consciously it was as if some hand had surreptitiously dropped something into the honeyed cup which gave it at times a new flavour. It gave me little thrills, at times purely pleasurable, at other times startling, and there were occasions when it became so poignant as to frighten me. The sight of a magnificent sunset was sometimes more than I could endure and made me wish to hide myself away. The feeling, however, was evoked more powerfully by trees than by any other sight; it varied in power according to the time and place and the appearance of the tree or trees, and always affected me most on moonlight nights. Frequently after I had first begun to experience it consciously, I would go out of my way to meet it, and I used to steal out of the house alone when the moon was at its full to stand, silent and motionless, near some group of large trees, gazing at the dusky green foliage silvered by the beams; and at such times the sense of mystery would grow until a sensation of delight would change to fear, and the fear increase until it was no longer to be borne, and I would hastily escape to recover the sense of reality and safety indoors, where there was light and company."

I was about to write up a walking version of George Thorogood's song "I Drink Alone" with lyrics changed to suit the title "I Walk Alone", but after your post, that would seem not only frivolous, but somewhat vulgar.

But you (and your source) are right on the money. Creation is powerfully beautiful as well as powerfully aweful (in the traditional sense).

[scockburn]

Thanks for the quote and comments. It might be another topic but I just wondered if others knew what I was referring to and it seems so.

[tasadam]

OK The truth about a matter - an event long ago. Not that big a deal, but enough to make you think.
It must have been 1989 or 1990 when I went to Mt Anne, by myself. So I was 23 or 24, and my bushwalking career in Tasmania was in its early stages. I had driven to the car park on Saturday, in no hurry, and made it to the hut by Saturday evening.
Sunday I left most of my belongings in the hut and took off with a day pack, safety gear etc (even then I carried my space blanket etc). Now this was 20 odd years ago so I cannot relate now to exactly where I went, but I know I was following the cairned route up Anne along the boulder field. There weren't many cairns, and that went from not many, to none.
So I followed my nose a bit - what I do remember of the notes at the time was that the track sidled under the high point then turned back around to the left (and up).
I suspect I was a bit low, and too far around. I was climbing up a bit, and it started to get steeper. I climbed up on a dolerite column, about two feet high. As I stepped up off it, it broke away and tumbled down. And down and down and down.... In a spectacular way, the sound of it bouncing off the rocks, the flinty smell of it in the air around me when it first fell... Watching it finally come to rest far far below me.
It went a long way. I looked up at the summit - almost directly above me it seemed - like the distance you could hit a good stone with a tennis racquet if you had a go, or perhaps a bit beyond. But straight up...
The top was being touched by passing cloud, which had been coming in all morning. By this time it was early afternoon.
So I decided, based mainly on the falling rock and the fact that I hadn't seen a cairn in a while, that I had gone far enough, and turned back. I picked up the cairned route off the mountain side easy enough, and continued a way further.
I was following a good track back. I could remember (and still can, quite vividly) the track went along a bit and then turned a bit as it went over a boulder field. Yet on the way back, I was following a well formed track, then I suddenly stopped because this track did not look familiar. At all.
I was quite composed, but can safely say I know of this "feeling" you refer to.
I took off my pack, staying on this track I was on. Remove the trowel and bog roll and find a good spot (funny how it had that effect), then return to the track and got out the map and compass, feeling somewhat better for my recent relief.
By this time the cloud had swallowed all reference points around me - nothing to see. I was not in cloud, but everything else was.
Then the cloud cleared in one skinny gap, as though it knew it had to - enough for me to see what I know to be Lots Wife, down below and in the distance.
It cleared for all of 10 or 15 seconds, enough time for me to get a compass bearing and realize I was on a track that was not on the map.
I back-tracked and picked up the correct route - the cairned route over the boulder field, and returned safely to the hut to gather my belongings, making it back to the car with the last of the failing daylight going rapidly.
To this day I do not know where on the plateau I was. I spent a bit of time trying to figure it out when I was up there last February, but I was unsuccessful.
It doesn't matter really. The experience was very educational.
What I do differently - I guess I carry a bit more safety gear with me on day walks now - like on any day walk I usually have enough gear on me to survive an uncomfortable night in pretty much any weather.
Head torches are IN!
They get used more often than not, too.
The phone's a must - the NextG network is very good.
Not the place here to discuss equipment, but suffice to say there are things that I do differently.

If I had to list "bad" experiences in my walking, I can only think of two. I suppose this could count, though it ended well, and it wasn't so much bad, as a bit awakening. (More than a BIT?)
But my worst experience walking was on Moonlight ridge. I wasn't alone though, so that story would be off topic here.

[eggs]

Tasadam,

what a great account - so now you have us on the edge of our seats...Moonlight Ridge? Maybe you should start another thread.
I only gave a one line warning about my past knee injury.

I guess we all have had close calls in the bush - indeed, I think we know there are also a lot of them at home or at work or on the road.
We should all be very thankful for the many times we have been close to injury or death and have come away unscathed.

As for the other issue of awe and fear when out alone - I think darkness amplifies the sense of unknown and danger.
I can understand why fear could grow when out alone, but I have a deep sense of knowing the one who made it all, and that gives me an underlying comfort, even when the scale is breathtaking, or the difficulty seems overwhelming.

But my most vivid experience was the time I got separated from my companions on a walk which I thought was pretty straightforward, and thinking I could go on alone I ended up getting lost.
With sunset drawing near the sense of panic was growing - and the result was clambering and falling through some pretty tough and slippery bush losing a map and my watch along the way.
This was attempt to get to the old Heemskirk Falls before the new dam on the Pieman River put it under water.
From that I learned that the essense of being lost is often disorientation - to think you are somewhere when you are in a completely different place. I had seen a fall in the distance which I had thought was my destination, but that turned out to be completely wrong. The solution was to stop and think carefully until I realised my mistake. By this time I was tramping thigh deep in the Heemskirk River because it was easy than going through the bush and the angle of the sun over the far bank gave me some clues.
I ended up climbing up what was a very steep mud bank using cutting grass to limit my sliding - and when up the top, it was open going back to the road.

And you are so right about the gear one should take on a day walk. I broke all the rules on Schnells Ridge this last January - but that was with 2 young guys with little experience - so I will have to wait for the "near misses" thread.

Brian

[the_camera_poser]

I've gotten the creeps out there alone- especially in the US- where there are bears. I came around a corner at 4:30am once on the Appalachian Trail- in the lovely pre-dawn mist, and ran smack into a black bear. We both ran in opposite directions- but I think I yelled louder LOL. I've never been so creeped-out in my life as sleeping in a tent on the edge of the cauldera in Lamington NP though- that place has a personality, and I don't think it likes us- or maybe it's just Yanks. Plenty of people who know the area agree though (and not just the yank bit).

[geoskid]

I marked the On Overnighters but only on tracks, but will soon progress to walking solo elsewhere when I think I am ready.
Even on tracks the experience of walking solo or in a group on overnighters is totally different I have found. Not better or worse, just vastly different.
Like Tas-man, I find Scockburns thoughts on being "spooked" interesting, as I can relate to it. I have put it down to greatly heightened awarenss - of environment and self, not necessarily when the poo has hit the fan or could do any moment as Tasadam and Eggs related.
For me, and I would think for most people, solo overnighters are far removed from everyday life. The thrilling and exciting part for me is that I am aware that I only have myself to rely on - for everything, hence the fear element. Its total self reliance in nature (however it got there). I have to navigate - no resting in the middle or up the back of the pack. Crossing a slippery log over a river whith a pack on takes on a higher level of concentration etc. etc. I find being in nature alone very humbling - it puts my individual existence into context. I think part of the fear element is asking myself if I am up to the task - not really knowing but wanting to find out. Whatever it is - it is thrilling and addictive.
Geoskid

[flyfisher]

Well put Geoskid, I can relate very much to the sense of heightened awareness, and on occasion of being spooked but not every time.
A couple of years ago I camped alone at the N E end of Lake Meston and was very relaxed.
In the western lakes where I feel quite at home, the feeling of freedom is what I feel most.
I think I will have to try to think more deeply about this to work out my real feelings.
FF

[Taurë-rana]

I get spooked or uncomfortable in the bush too at times, usually, but not only when I'm alone, and often when I'm not actually in any danger. The last time was when I went to Turanna Bluff, and I think it was the emptiness of the plateau, the exposure of the "summit", the fact that I was a bit dehydrated and I was running late. I was annoyed about it as it took the edge off my enjoyment.
The reason I haven't tried solo bushwalks overnight yet is because I tend to get spooked at night anyway, and the thought of being in the bush with my imagination running away in the dark is a bit of a worry.
I've also had the same feeling when with my husband while travelling in a 4WD - we were looking for somewhere to camp on a remote back road, and asked a local landowner if we could camp by his creek. He was very friendly and said we could sleep in the disused service station he had on his property. He also invited us in to watch a movie, but then made a couple of odd phone calls, and his vehicle had bloodstains on it - from shooting animals - and we both ended up absolutely terrified and bolted back to our vehicle and to the safety of the nearest highway rest area. We learned later from a friend that he had camped along that stretch of road in the past, and kept a loaded gun with him all night as he had felt spooked as well.
So maybe the feeling is a reaction to danger that is not well defined, but possible.

[the_camera_poser]

I get spooked or uncomfortable in the bush too at times, usually, but not only when I'm alone, and often when I'm not actually in any danger. The last time was when I went to Turanna Bluff, and I think it was the emptiness of the plateau, the exposure of the "summit", the fact that I was a bit dehydrated and I was running late. I was annoyed about it as it took the edge off my enjoyment.
The reason I haven't tried solo bushwalks overnight yet is because I tend to get spooked at night anyway, and the thought of being in the bush with my imagination running away in the dark is a bit of a worry.
I've also had the same feeling when with my husband while travelling in a 4WD - we were looking for somewhere to camp on a remote back road, and asked a local landowner if we could camp by his creek. He was very friendly and said we could sleep in the disused service station he had on his property. He also invited us in to watch a movie, but then made a couple of odd phone calls, and his vehicle had bloodstains on it - from shooting animals - and we both ended up absolutely terrified and bolted back to our vehicle and to the safety of the nearest highway rest area. We learned later from a friend that he had camped along that stretch of road in the past, and kept a loaded gun with him all night as he had felt spooked as well.
So maybe the feeling is a reaction to danger that is not well defined, but possible.

LOL- did he look like John Jarratt?

[tasadam]

LOL- did he look like John Jarratt?

OK I had to google... I didn't know who John Jarrett is...
http://www.nedonthenet.com/jjarrett.jpg

[the_camera_poser]

Tasadam- that's the Aussie version of asking if he looked like the guys from the Deliverance.

[Darren]

G'Day All
I nearly always walk alone. The fact is that I don’t know anyone else that hikes so its my only choice.The reality is that it would feel a bit unusual hiking with a group to me. I’m quite comfortable being alone, my job can be a bit full on so some quiet time is nice. I will admit when setting off on a walk that is off track or may have some scrambling in it etc there can be a little anxiety/excitement but in a good way. Aaron Ralston described it perfectly in the start of his book 'Between a rock and a hard place' which is excellent reading. Being totally alone and doing something a bit difficult like bouldering along a ridge, or navigating through scrub can get a bit of adrenalin flowing. The thing is though this is one of the few times in you life that you are in complete control of you situation. You outcome is completely dictated by your decisions. I take a tiny radio to places I get reception and its nice company at night.
My wife has accompanied me a couple of times and while she is an outdoors person and enjoyed it she can take or leave it. Now my eldest daughter is gelling a little bigger I am taking her on a few short overnighters (trying not to scare them off) So hopefully ill have a hiking companion there
Darren

PS
One other thing I do a little is walk at night alone. Only on well defined tracks that I know. In winter I might drive to the trailhead after work and walk in the dark. On a moonless night at 5 deg with only a petzl it's amazing your difference in awareness. You concentrate a lot more so its not as relaxing but nice all the same

[the_camera_poser]

I have to admit- I'm grooming my daughter as a walking companion too......

[crazyone]

I love the walk alone bit. ive never been freaked out but i generally keep going back to the upper mersey area so i guess im in my comfort zone. I did get caught in a white out on the ben lomond plateau once and whilst i wasnt happy about the prospect of spending the night by myself up there (which i did in the end) i knew better than to panic and so didnt worry me. just froze. I love it both ways i guess, its great to share a walk with someone but i also love the solitude

[Nuts]

Iv'e spent a lot of time alone in the bush with work, used to spook me but given time I didn't think much about the spookiness, I guess the loneliness is worse in the first few days then comes back now and then but it's not so consuming.

However...., I did spend a few weeks camped up on Mt Roland and there was some weird vibes up there! Thick fogs(clouds) would roll in and swirl around the plains and boulder fields giving it the 'picnic at hanging rock' aura. Up there in the moonlight intensified the feeling, some nights I was just plain 'spooked', had to keep trying to shake the feeling and urge to have the torch on all night looking around (I had a bivy as well as a tent and it got to the stage where I slept out in the bivy rather than 'enclosed' in the tent).

Later I heard that it was considered a 'dark' place by the natives who wouldnt go up there...not sure if thats true or not?

Truth is (and the thing that got me thru) that it's probably a safer nights sleep anywhere out there than in town. So long as your careful with your plans and movements, solo is ok. I do worry about the less experienced though. It seems that little is mentioned of the old 'less than three should never be' and such sayings- Cant help thinking that it is Only because of a reliance on electronic aids- can see no other reason- and (no matter how advanced) appears like the catalyst for ongoing disasters.

Cheers Nuts

[slug]

I walk alone, but I'm a recent arrival to Tasmania and haven't got around to establishing a network of like minded people (apart reading and the occassional post on this web-site of course!). I'm not in any hurry at the moment as I'm carrying a bit of weight and it's been some time since I have done any serious overnight type trips. I have no desire to slow a larger group down as I struggle under the weight of a pack because I'm not fit enough to keep up. I also work away from home during the week so I can only catch up with my family on the weekend. I have no desire to leave them to go on overnight/weekend walks as I wouldn't get to spend any time with them at all. I have taken to Sunday morning walks through the Dial Ranges (half an hours drive from home) as a way to get some fitness and enjoy some outdoors time. My family have no interest in joining me, so an eary rise and a walk alone is a way to keep everyone happy. I stick to marked trails but I'm changing my start point to cover as much of the Dials as I can.

Slug

[Ent]

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[stepbystep]

Lot's of great comments and observations.
Walking alone is a double edged sword for sure.
For me I camp in my vehicle and then predominantly do long day walks using all available light, to go as far(or not) as possible.
I find when I have company I feel I need to take into account their expectations of the walk and feel I can't stop to take in what interests me without taking away their enjoyment.
I also use my time in the bush to work through my thoughts and anxieties that relate to day-to-day life and company doesn't allow me to do this.
i guess this relates to why we do what we do, there are so many occasions I wish I could click my fingers and have those I care about with me to share the majesty of the moment, but somehow I think it's the trek to that spot that gives the appreciation of it. Perhaps I'm just surrounded by too many people who need instant gratification and aren't prepared to slog through the mud and mist.
I guess I'm a bit like slug in that I don't have the network of like-minded people(and I'm carrying a few too many kg's) but having the time of my life in the process.
Walking alone does however give you extra responsibility to alleviate the anxieties of loved ones(particularly those that don't walk) by sticking to your plan/the track and staying in touch as much as possible(3G phones and sticking to higher ground help a lot).
In addition I'd have to say walking a new trail alone, making new discoveries, pushing your body/mind and returning safely gives such an immense confidence boost it's worth any risk.

Here endeth the diatribe - SBS

[Gippsmick]

My friends are many and scattered all across this country. Often it is difficult to co-ordinate taking time of work for a group of people.
Why let that stop from getting out there. If I can't find hiking partners I'm more than happy to step out solo. Some of my best trips have been week long solos.

[north-north-west]

I always walk alone these days. Always been a bit of a loner, when I dive I've always prefered to dive alone. You're responsible for yourself but for no-one else. One has to be more aware, more realistic, more honest about one's capabilities and the conditions - there are probably side-trips I've not done and walks I've turned because I had no back-up, but rather that than having to deal with other people's whinging, or going too fast or too slow, or wanting to go somewhere else, or bickering . . .
. . . the last time I walked in a mob was when five of us did the Port Davey and South Coast tracks some 30 years back. By the end of the first day there had been so much bitching I never wanted to see any of them again. By the time we got to the Ironbounds I went up and over alone in dodgy weather as it was the only way I could be certain I wouldn't become a mass-murderer. Never again. A day walk here or there with an attractive member of the opposite sex, fair enough, but that's the limit.

Sure, there have been occasions where walking alone has caused problems - I was 10 km of track from car and road when I tore a knee ligament, once. Another time, while scrub-bashing my way back up from a lovely little creek gorge, I was distracted by a pair of mating Wedgies, tripped and managed to hit a low rock shelf with a stick wedged in a vertical crack that went most of the way through my leg. Only 5km from the car, and only 600km of driving from there to get back to the Hovell. But nothing serious - yet. And the risks, so far, have been worth the returns.
Of course, the major drawback is the weight - tent, stove, fuel, all on my own back, no-one to share the load. And all the stuff-ups with no-one else to blame.

Getting spooked is . . . well, I don't know if that's what happens. Sometimes I just get a feeling that it's time to turn around, or it would be better to go ---> way rather than <--- way or ^ way. Same with diving - and on more than one such occasion I know that following the feelings has saved my life, so I continue to heed them. There's a primitive sort-of-pantheistic part of me that likes to think the real world is warning me of danger at such times, so best listen to it.

[walkinTas]

Now that the kids have left home most of my walks are done alone. I do plan my trips and upload track to the GPS and prepare maps and that sort of thing, but the actual decision to go is general a quick decision because I have the time and the opportunity and the weather looks right. If I didn't walk alone I probably would walk a lot less (and I don't walk enough now).

The thing I like about walking alone is that you can just take your time and walk as far as you want. There is no hurry to be somewhere. You're total free with no hassles or pressures. That's also the thing I don't like about being alone on longer trips - you've told people you'll be back on a certain day at a certain time, so you have to keep moving and can't easily change your plans. So most (not all) of my "alone" walks are day walks or just a single night out - or I walk to the campsite on day one and then explore from there - so I'm only ever one day from the car and getting home on time is easy.

The bush doesn't scare me. Thankfully there are no bears or big cats in Tassie I know the only scary animals you might meet in the dark in Tassie will be the human kind - so I figure you are probably better off alone and miles for anyone. I did see Wolf Creek on TV recently (J Jarrett), but I just don't dwell on that sort of thing. For me the biggest fear in walking alone is injuring myself. Crossing rivers always worries me - I'm not a good swimmer and hate cold water. Getting lost, really lost - (no idea where you are and no idea how to get to where you should be) would be much more embarrassing that scary.

I didn't worry about walking alone when I was younger, but the older I get the more I think I should carry a PLB. I'm not as invincible as I used to be.