[pct-l] Solo female hiker and safety

[Mary Davison]

Solo female hiker and safety

 

About 20-25 years ago or so I was sitting with female colleagues and the
subject under discussion was whether a woman could safely walk on a street
at night. Everyone else thought it was too dangerous to do for a woman. I
remember consciously deciding that I was going to refuse to let fear rule my
life to the extent that it would control where I could walk. I had a
counselor once tell me that that decision itself was a defense because it
changed my attitude and did not allow me to act like a potential victim.
That may or may not be true but I have followed that decision – not that I
set out to do foolhardy things – although some would say hiking solo on a
long trail is foolhardy.

 

I am 70 years old and have completed the AT (this year) and am 80 miles
short of finishing the PCT. I have hiked both trails, 300-500 miles on each
trail each year since I retired. I started out with the cautions to never
hike alone. But over the years I have become much more comfortable hiking
alone and in nearly 5,000 miles have hiked about ¾ of it alone, sometimes
with “the herd” and sometimes in off seasons with few or no hikers around. I
have hitch hiked alone on both trails and have had nothing but positive
experiences in hitch hiking. (I don’t ever hitch hike in “real” life.) In
fact each experience has a cool story to go with it. One of the latest was
coming into Hanover, NH about 9:30 pm in the rain. Who would pick up a
bedraggled old lady with a pack and an umbrella on a busy town highway late
at night in the dark? A wonderful young woman who had hiked the Long Trail
with her 70 yo mother. Cool! In 2008 in California a woman and her young
child picked me up and she said she never picked up hitch hikers but she had
been driving the other way and God told her to take that road – where she
met me. Who am I to argue with that? There are other stories equally as
good.

 

Other hikers have told the usual cautions – not camping near roads, etc.
Most of the time I have followed those precautions. But not always. Have I
just been lucky? Maybe. Maybe not. Could something happen to me while
hiking? Of course. Something bad can happen to anyone anywhere. Am I ever
nervous or afraid? Not usually, but sometimes. (I once barricaded the
opening of a shelter (RVP in NY – within eyesight of a road) with things
that would fall down and make noise if someone tried to enter because I had
seen a creepy guy and he knew I was staying there. I wanted something to
fall down and make noise if anyone came so I could defend myself. No one
came.) But I still hold by my decision not to let fear rule my life or keep
me from walking. 

 

People often ask me if I carry a gun. I have never and will never carry a
gun. (Besides the weight, I would probably shoot myself by accident.) I do
carry a cell phone and the last couple years, a GPS. But I think that is
kind of funny as I learned to hike and backpack in the ‘60s and such things
were unheard of then. And many places there is no cell reception anyway.
Don’t totally depend on electronic gizmos either. They can fail. But for me
I think they are worth the weight.

 

All this is not to say how great I am but just an example that women can and
do go solo on trails. I am not the only one or even the oldest one – just
one of those who love the trails who happens to be female and old.

 

Medicare Pastor