[pct-l] The hazards of hiking alone

[Susan Virnig]

Nathan and I have been corresponding via email about this topic, but reading
these quotes brought back my experience in the late '70s when, as a young
woman in her 20s, I started section hiking the PCT in WA state alone.

My first section was a 30-mile solo from Hart's Pass to Rainy Pass.  My
second section, a couple weeks later, was a 100 mile solo south from Rainy
Pass.

Nathan, if you're getting social pressure not to hike alone, imagine what it
was like 30 years ago for a young woman!  I had to REPEATEDLY explain to
folks that I felt much more danger from human beings than from the natural
world.  But eventually I just ignored them.  Most people know nothing about
long distance backpacking and that's ok.

One of those years, on another 45 mile solo further south in WA -- remember,
back in those days our packs were a lot heavier and the mileage was much
lower -- I ran into a woman who thought she might be the first woman to solo
the entire PCT in one season.  Imagine the flak she got!  But in our brief
conversation we shared how committed we were to giving ourselves the
glorious experience of hiking this magnificent trail alone.

Just as an example, back in '77 (by cracky!) I weighed 110 pounds and my
pack for that 100 mile solo was 55 pounds.  Amazing, isn't it?  No wonder I
averaged 10 miles/day...  By a couple years later, I had lightened my pack a
bit (to about 45) and picked up my average to 15-17 miles/day.

Just wanted to add my experience into the general discussion.

Happy hiking!
--Susan from Spokane


-----Original Message-----
From: enyapjr at comcast.net [mailto:enyapjr at comcast.net] 
Sent: Monday, September 28, 2009 1:33 PM
To: pct-l at backcountry.net
Subject: [pct-l] The hazards of hiking alone (2nd try, sorry!)

Sorry!  Don't know why the bad formatting came
through!!!......................


FWIW, a few related quotes - some directly, others indirectly...

"Never did I think so much, exist so vividly, and experience so much, never
have I been so much myself - if I may use that expression - as in journeys I
have taken alone and on foot."  - Jean-Jacques Rousseau

"The man who goes alone can start today; but he that travels with another
must wait till that other is ready, and it may be a long time before they
get off."  - Thoreau

"Now, to be properly enjoyed, a walking tour should be gone upon
alone....because freedom is of the essence." - Robert Louis Stevenson

"I hike alone sometimes.  It's during these solo hikes that the number of
arrogant and ignorant people I have to deal with is reduced to one." -
unknown (Jack Hampson?)

"Whosoever is delighted in solitude is either a wild beast or a god."  - Sir
Francis Bacon

"That so few now dare to be eccentric marks the chief danger of our time."
- John Stuart Mill

"Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absence of fear."  -
Mark Twain

"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to
what lies within us."  - Ralph Waldo Emerson

"If you wait for the perfect moment when all is safe and assured, it may
never arrive.  Mountains will not be climbed, races won, or lasting
happiness achieved."  - Maurice Chevalier

Find a copy of "The Complete Walker" by Colin Fletcher - he's the one that
started me solo hiking without feeling socially 'guilty' about it...

Happy trails!!!
Jim (PITA)


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