I think this has been one of the most self empowering experiences in my life thus far. I have no idea exactly how I was supposed to learn the things I did. But what I did was, I took a big ol series of baby steps and a lot of calculated risks with plenty of contingencies. I planned well. However, at the end of the day sometimes I just had to go for it! I could plan all day and think of every creatively horrible possible outcome and how I thought I would escape death or injury in each case, but at some point you have to learn in the field. I don’t think my journey was perfect by any means. And there are a million different ways to do your journey well for you. Perhaps you can still take a few things from my trek to get yourself out there much sooner than later.
If you’ve been doing the solo thing for a while now, tell me how you did it! Tell us how you got into your groove braving the wilderness with you, yourself, and you. As for myself… These are the steps I took to become a solo adventurer.
The call to the outdoors I believe existed for me at a young age but was not really pursued until well into adulthood. I always enjoyed hiking but it was an experience that I simply understood was only a group activity and way too dangerous and even stupid to do alone. However, after so long hiking with others, I realized that I wanted to hike for much longer on much more intense terrain than any of my hiking companions. That was very frustrating in the sense that the fulfillment I wanted in the outdoors was contingent on the limits of others. It felt like I could see the sky but my wings were clipped.
Solo adventuring for me was something I wanted to prove to myself. I saw all of these people, especially women on social media and television living my best life and I felt trapped. I felt trapped by money, by my surroundings in Ohio not having any of the majestic mountains I wanted to explore, by my lack of understanding of where I stood on the fitness scale of being able to summit these mountains vs. being completely gassed out only a couple miles in, my lack of knowledge on wildlife and poisonous plants, or my 100lbs frame being chopped up into pieces by the serial killer I met on the trail. Lack, lack, lack. I could go on and on. There were so many things floating around in my head of reasons I believed this life was for all of these lucky people I saw on my screen but perhaps never for me.
So how did I get from that mentality to the one I have today. Long story short (well.. sort of) the call to adventure grew louder and I tried harder to get my then romantic partner on board with my adventure aspirations. But he too had his limits. So I began toying around with the idea of solo adventuring which was immediately shut down and discouraged. Not just by him but also by my family. I knew these people had my best interest at heart. That doesn’t mean that they were right and I knew that. They say don’t ask for advice from people who don’t have what you want. I needed to hear from the ladies I saw killing it on these incredible thru hikes such as the Appalachian Trail, Pacific Crest Trail, and the Continental Divide Trail. I watched YouTube vlogs like it was my job, studying every detail. All the good, bad, and terrifying parts of their journey were super over analyzed. It was also very important for me to begin picturing the reality of this lifestyle for myself.
After so long in front of the screen it was eventually going to be time to test out my own courage on an actual trail despite the opinions around me. But… the catalyst for my launch into the next phase of my life was a breakup between myself and that significant other. Of course there’s a much deeper story there that we won’t get into. The important piece is that I no longer had his doubt in my thinking. Also.. I was ANGRY! I had so many emotions and I needed somewhere to put them. I also lost a lot of my inhibitions in my new singleness, rage, and the ability to do absolutely whatever I wanted all of a sudden without having to compromise or consult a partner.
In my grief I pretty much immediately chose adventure number one. I didn’t go completely off the rails though. I chose a trail I’d done quite a few times before with others, was only about 5 miles, was well marked, well maintained, not too far from my parents place, I had a clear AllTrails map for it, and there were plenty of what I refer to as “bailout points” or places to short cut back to the car if I need to for any reason. My backpack was incredibly over prepared but I showed up at the trailhead and began my trek. I arrived at bailout point after bailout point and I remember laughing and saying to myself “okay, when is this supposed to get hard??” I was almost done with the trail and had barely broken a sweat. Next thing I knew I saw my car emerge through the trees and I was finished! “Wow!” I thought. It was almost disappointing how underwhelming the hike was but at the same time my confidence got a major boost.
After adventure number one I was a solo day hiking feen. I sent my family the AllTrails map of where ever I was headed next, told them when I was starting and what time I was expected to finish. With all of the emotions I was experiencing at the time I ended up making my hikes very intentional in my healing process. Some of it happened naturally. When I got to the trailhead I would allow myself to take all of the big painful thoughts that I’d avoided all day long in order to do my job and function in my day to day, and I allowed myself to bring them to the forefront of my attention. Then I’d begin the hike. I would cry, yell, climb hills like a mad woman, have arguments with myself, stab my trekking poles into the dirt extra hard, you name it! I let it all out in the woods. I think even the critters were afraid of me. What I began to notice was that I was finishing my hikes earlier than expected, I was doing more challenging hikes and my body was keeping up just fine, also by the time I got back to my car I felt better! I felt lighter and like I was able to start seeing a way through my pain. This was an incredibly therapeutic journey that I needed more than I realized at the time.
Next it was time to up the anti. I’d gotten comfortable on day hikes all over town so naturally it was time to collect backpacking gear. That was a hurdle for me financially so it took a while but in the mean time I learned how to pack my backpack properly, how much water I required for the amount of adventuring that day, how to deal with some Ohio level wildlife encounters, how to time my hikes before sunset, etc. That was exactly what I needed at that phase.
Once I’d collected sufficient enough backpacking gear I chose my local trail, studied it, and packed up. A big piece of gear I refused to go without was a Garmin inReach Explorer Plus Satellite Communicator/Navigator. I went ahead and dropped the cash necessary for the ability to contact my family or Search and Rescue should anything happen and my family had a lot more peace of mind being able to track me from their cellphones.
First backpacking plan was for 2 nights and 3 days. I know! I know. I bit off way more than I could chew. As you can imagine I learned that the hard way. This was my first time carrying the backpacking weight on trail. I’d carried it all around my apartment but that was of course a nonsensical level of understanding. My bags starting weight with water was around 40 pounds. Day one wore me out of course. My bag was very uncomfortable and fairly cheap as far as backpacking bags go. There was a metal bit shoving into my tailbone, the straps were causing my collar bones to swell, and the weight was more than I was in shape to carry at that time. I ended up making camp at an undesignated camping spot not too far off trail.
As I was setting up camp, I was feeling like it wasn’t the best spot due to all of the over grow I was trying to stomp down to make a flat ground for my tent, also it was not very far away from the trail. I didn’t have a lot of knowledge on how to properly set up a campsite. Because I wasn’t too far from trail, I could see other hikers. Which of course also meant that hikers could see me. After starting dinner there was a man who seemed to be walking back and forth pass my campsite. Eventually he came back and started asking me questions. He asked me where all I planned to backpack, how many nights I was planning to camp, which trail I was taking, etc. He caught me off guard with all of his questions. He could have been genuinely curious but I regretted the fact that I answered all of his questions honestly. I told this strange sketchy man all of my backpacking plans. I took maybe 5 minutes to think it over before I started packing up camp and preparing to camp elsewhere. I remembered a designated campground that I’d passed maybe a 1/2 mile back where I saw some other campers setting up their tents. I didn’t initially see that as an option before because those campsites were reservation only and I hadn’t done that. Regardless, I decided to leave most of my things and just hike up to that campsite to speak to the other campers.
When I arrived to the campsite more campers were setting up their tents. There were 2 guys camping together and a younger couple. I saw the young couple first and decided to approach them, partially because I wanted to speak to the woman. I asked if it was okay that I find a grassy area somewhere around this site. I explained to them that I did not have a reservation and what happened with the guy who asked a bit too many questions for me. They were very sweet and told me to absolutely camp with them and that they were sorry I had an unfortunate experience. I felt so much better about their overall vibe so I skipped out to get my gear and came back to that site to camp around my new acquaintances. I had a great night with the other campers. They invited me to have dinner with them and they were full of fun conversation. When we were ready to turn in for bed the sounds of their soft snores and shifts on their sleeping pads actually brought me a great deal of comfort. So technically I didn’t sleep in the woods completely alone my first night backpacking but I was okay with that.
The next morning… when I say my body hurt, MAN, was I sore. I suspected it was primarily from the new muscles I was using to carry more significant weight. My bag was certainly taking a toll on me as well really digging into my tailbone, the waist belt bruised my hip bones, and the straps were pressing on my collarbones increasing the redness and swelling. But I was on a mission! So I said goodbye to my new friends after breakfast and set off for day 2.
Day 2 did not last long to say the least. After a series of creeks going straight down and then immediately straight up, my body was screaming for me to stop. I continued on but took more and more breaks. The hours were passing and I was not covering very much ground in order to get to my next campsite before dark. Once my body was so tired I had less and less patience for other inconveniences. Some severely overgrown areas full of burrs, 2 annoying shin high water crossings, and a very confusing fork in the road pretty much wiped out what was left of my morale. Eventually while trudging on I heard an ambulance off in the distance. This perked up my ears and basically told me that I was done. I hiked towards the sound seeking the road until I finally found it. I had one service bar on my phone and got a call out to my mom. Mom was tracking me and knew I was far from my campsite. I told her I was done and asked if she and my dad could call me an Uber. I could see a house and the address on their mailbox so that’s what I gave my parents for a location. My dad ended up getting ahold of a buddy of his who lived in the area. This family friend along with his wife and son pulled up to get me off of the side of the road in a beautiful white sports car. They smelled great and looked very nice… much different from me. I was so embarrassed by my dirt troll appearance and questionable smells but I was eternally grateful to be rejoining society. They asked me plenty of questions about my adventure as they drove me to my car. I soon said goodbye to my new heroes and drove myself home feeling incredibly relieved, proud, humbled, and so many emotions I really can’t narrow it down.
Most of all I learned so much about my gear. I figured out what I loved, what I hated, what I wish I had, etc. I learned the limits of my body and what I wanted to improve on. I also learned to be flexible on my plan. If the plan needs to change I can’t be so stubborn not to go ahead and adapt to a new plan if it’s simply in my best interest to do so. I am now open to lying to strangers who I don’t necessarily like because of this trip. I upgraded my bag and a few other key items, and rethought my packing technique. So much changed after this one backpacking experience. It’s likely you will have a similar experience in that regard. The bottom line is you have to start somewhere. You have to pick your date, get the gear and shop to the best of your ability (which I will happily assist with), and you have to edit your backpacking system to suit your own needs and preferences. I have countless backpacking trips under my belt since this first trip and I still edit my gear choices, but for the most part I now have a system that works out great for me and I don’t really have to think too much about it. I can finally enjoy the views and relax at camp come rain or shine. I got here through experience and you will too. My goal is to help you get to this place of confidence faster than I did.
Tell me your thoughts, questions, ideas, on Solo Adventuring. Give back to the community and teach us all what you have learned. Let’s exchange the knowledge necessary to get all of us out on the next grand adventure!