solo hiking: how risky is it?

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donini

Trad climber

Ouray, Colorado

Mar 27, 2017 - 02:49pm PT

Solo hiking is fabulous. The main attraction, for me, is being able to go at your own pace.
Sure, an accident can happen but if you are fit, prepared and thoughtful solo hikng is no more dangerous then driving to the movies and certainly less dangerous than riding a motorcycle anywhere.

Chaz

Trad climber

greater Boss Angeles area

Mar 27, 2017 - 02:55pm PT

My own informal survey, conducted in the San Gorgonio Wilderness on weekdays over the past twenty years or so, finds almost every party I encounter is a solo hiker.

Another survey, of this season's deaths on neighboring Mt Baldy, finds that every hiker who got the chop there this year was hiking with at least one partner.

Winemaker

Sport climber

Yakima, WA

Mar 27, 2017 - 03:37pm PT

Alan, funny you should mention solo eating as when I'm alone I consciously slow down my eating and chew thoroughly, especially apple, as the thought of choking has occurred. Stupid maybe, but I tend to eat too fast ........... Once coughed while chewing carrot and got a piece in my sinuses.

Just bought an ACR ResQlink to make the wife happy. Actually makes me feel better too, as the consequence of bodyily damage solo and away can be considerable. I know when I'm alone I'm way more careful of where I step.

EdBannister

Mountain climber

13,000 feet

Mar 27, 2017 - 10:14pm PT

nut, if you have kids that depend on you,
there are some risks not to take that you might otherwise.

but where that line is is yours to draw.

i think it irresponsible for a parent with a kid 18 or under, to base jump, or climb solo,
or other stuff,

but solo backpacking is not on the list for me, and i find it the most peaceful of pursuits..

i let somebody know where i went in, and when i expect to be out..
the only time i could ever say i got hurt walking, was when i was with others, i started a boulder in the north gully at Tahquitz, i would never have walked there alone. when by myself, i generally stay on trails and make sure i don't assume risks like talus that might not be stable.

perswig

climber

Mar 28, 2017 - 03:30am PT

And people are really good at believing. It's what we do. Cheetahs are really good at running.

rbord, funny and true. Well said!
Dale

tradmanclimbs

Ice climber

Pomfert VT

Mar 28, 2017 - 04:02am PT

I do a lot of solo hikeing.. Its safer than dieing at work....

thebravecowboy

climber

The Good Places

Aug 31, 2018 - 12:12pm PT

two more bad ones up on Long's this week.

heal up injured hiker!

and a thank you to first responders! May the h-pay begin to cover your costs.

i did the watery-iced cables route last week in tennies and the descent of the greased-out rounded silky-like-wet "cl 3" was worse than the wet icy sh#t on the N side

climber

Aug 31, 2018 - 01:21pm PT

When I was a teenager, I’d spend a week (plus, on occasion) backpacking solo in the Sierra; NBD. It coulda been lonely, but it never was. Maybe that’s why I talk to myself all the time!

Only once I got in uneasy terrain, but prevailed. Then I leaned how to rock climb to not have that happen again!

On a couple trips with groups, there were personality conflicts between others that made the trip miserable.

aspendougy

Trad climber

Los Angeles, CA

Aug 31, 2018 - 07:03pm PT

Some people, prior to reincarnating, make a conscious decision that they will die alone in the wilderness in their early 60's. But not everyone who is late coming back falls into that category, that's why we have SAR.

Psilocyborg

climber

Aug 31, 2018 - 09:16pm PT

It was the first night of a solo backpacking trip. Earlier in the day I had got off work a little early, headed up the 395, grabbed a permit, and started hiking up the kearsarge pass trail. I left the trail at a creek crossing to head over to the lakes that sit below its north face. It was evening bu the time I made a campsite somewhere along the east side of Bench Lake.
https://caltopo.com/map.html#ll=36.76274,-118.36129&z=17&b=t&o=r&n=0.25

By the time I set up, cooked and ate dinner, it was night and I was just going to gather some water at the lake and go to bed. I had camped maybe 20 yards from the lake, but I had to go maybe 100 yards south to avoid some dense brush to get to the lake. It was still a bushwack to get to the lake, but it was short, and I could see a large flat boulder right on the shore, so I made for that. I bushwacked through, jumped up on the boulder, and directly on the other side of the boulder was a small beach for me to get water, and zap it with my steripen.

This boulder was perfectly flat, and rectangular shaped,and generally the same dimensions of a large boardroom table....12'long, 5'wide, maybe less than 4' tall. While I am gathering water my back is to the boulder, and I am in good spirits. I finish up, stand up, and turn around to face the boulder and jump up onto it, when suddenly WHOOOSH!!! Something very large and very white flews in front of my face, over the rock.....it was headed upwards....

It scared the ever living fhck out of me. I was frozen and time stood still as my brain reeled, the sudden rush of chemicals facilitated about a million thoughts in a moment calculating all the possibilities of what the fhck that was. Suddenly,a thought popped in my head "An indian died here" and I looked down at the rock and had a fleeting memory of a male indian dying on this rock as a female indian mourned at his side.

Still pulsing with adrenaline, I just jumped up on that boulder and walked back to my campsite trying to figure out what it was.

Much too big for a bird, it could only have been a deer or mountain lion. But where was no sound before of after the whoosh. No running though the bushes that surrounded the area, no breaking of sticks. There was only a whoosh and a white flash arcing upwards.

This story is no ghost story, or stretching of the truth. It happened exactly as I have written it.

Moof

Big Wall climber

Orygun

Aug 31, 2018 - 09:28pm PT

I’ve done a lot of solo trips. My two most “exciting” encounters were on group trips. Mama bear with a yearling on a stretch of overgrown trail where it would be months before we would be found, then a mountain lion killing a deer at 6 AM about 40’ from our tents.

I think I need to stick to nice safe solo trips.

Psilocyborg

climber

Aug 31, 2018 - 09:57pm PT

I ran into a moma bear with two cubs on a solo backpacking trip in SEKI. I suddenly saw them on the trail ahead, and instantly started walking as slowly and quietly as possible to my right off trail.

It didnt seem like they noticed me at all, and They were probably not more than 150-200' away. Mom started scrounging around for food, and the cubs were playing and stumbling around, running all over the place. I continued my attempt to get farther away from them. Then the stupid cubs started RUNNING TOWARDS ME. I stopped and had no idea what to do. I just watched the stupid cubs getting closer and closer (they still didnt seem to see me) and thought "here we go" I was 100% certain I was about to get attacked by momma.

Within seconds of them reaching me I suddenly hear a "GITOUTTAHERE BEAR! GO ON BEAR GIT!!!" It was a horse packer with a mule train. I looked back for the bears and they were gone.

I walked up to the guy and thanked him for scaring the bears off because that surely would have ruined my day

Toker Villain

Big Wall climber

Toquerville, Utah

Aug 31, 2018 - 10:20pm PT

Had a bureaucrat ranger tell me I could not have a guide permit because he heard I had climbed solo.

I explained that I was roped, but he said it was still unsafe without a partner,..

So,.. when I guide is the client supposed to be my backup?

Jon Beck

Trad climber

Oceanside

Aug 31, 2018 - 10:35pm PT

"Safest with a partner" wisdom has been expanded by some who say you should only backpack in groups of three. If one gets hurt one goes for help and the other stays with the injured. I do not subscribe, mostly solo trips for me, love it.

Toker Villain

Big Wall climber

Toquerville, Utah

Sep 1, 2018 - 10:59am PT

Then the one that goes for help is solo.

Ultimately the biggest factor is a combination of competence and good judgement.

climber

Sep 1, 2018 - 11:13am PT

OMG, Ron, your RIGHT!

LoL...ec

johntp

Trad climber

Little Rock and Loving It

Sep 1, 2018 - 09:22pm PT

Missed this thread before now. Interesting viewpoints.

Sierra Ledge Rat

Mountain climber

Old and Broken Down in Appalachia

Sep 2, 2018 - 11:25am PT

I find it very interesting that a bunch of people who climb up the sides of cliffs and mountains are debating whether or not it is safe to take a walk by yourself.