Poll: Hiking or Climbing Solo - Do you do it? Ever?

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Do you hike or climb solo? How often? What seasons?

  • I hike or climb solo all 4 seasons with some frequency.

    Votes: 110 69.6%
  • I hike or climb solo all 4 seasons occasionally or rarely.

    Votes: 22 13.9%
  • I hike or climb solo in warmer seasons with some frequency.

    Votes: 12 7.6%
  • I hike solo or climb solo in warmer seasons occasionally or rarely.

    Votes: 12 7.6%
  • I do not hike or climb solo.

    Votes: 2 1.3%

  • Total voters
    158

Raven

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Since it has come up in many threads recently, I thought it would be interesting to get a sense of how many of us hike solo and in what frequency and time of year.

Edit: For the purpose of the poll, you can be hiking solo with a dog.
 
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OK, I'll start. :)

I hike solo as much of the time as I do with a group/partner in all seasons, so I picked option 1. Incidentally, I don't really change what I carry when with a group unless it's extra for someone else. I carry enough for "comfortable" overnight in winter and enough to survive the night in warmer months. I like the benefits of both solo and hikes with companions.
 
I mostly hike solo, once or twice a month, three seasons.
 
I'm about 50/50 solo, higher percentage in the Fall and Spring, lower in winter. That said, some of the winter solo's included Washington, Isolation, Eisenhower,Pierce, Flume and multiple solo trips on Pierce and Liberty. Did Moosilauke & Field solo within the first three days of Spring and April trips up the higher Franconia peaks and winter solos of the highest four peaks in the Catskills and multiple winter solos or Greylock and Monadnock. (some of the Monandnock ones mid-week so they actually had a solo feel)

Recently more trips with my son, currently ten. Can't afford to get very risky since my dilemma could mean his life also, especially in winter. We did Pierce last winter, may try and get up for Tecumseh in March.
 
I hike and backpack solo more often then not- probably at least 75% of the time, year round.
 
I'm about 90% solo. Aside from the odd time a family member wants to come along. Which I'm glad to oblige. Really there is something special being in the woods or wherever. Taking in whatever you sense. Moving along at my pace. Its certainly nice to meet and chat with someone on the trail for certain. But weather its 90 degrees or preffereably 20. Something is sparked. If a younger family member sees comes across something remarkable though. It does feel great to help them experience that. You still have to encourage the next of us. So even that 10% left is just as rewarding as the 90%.
 
I hike solo probably as much these days as I hike with my usual partner. I stay on trailed hikes, both solo and tandem. I have become disoriented, lost the trail and had to backtrack, been injured, turned back for various reasons (but usually not the weather - we tend to be conservative).I have been fortunate to not have been disabled while hiking and I like to think I can get myself safely out of anything I get into. I agree with the previous poster that there is something special about being alone in the woods. I will continue to do hike solo when the spirit strikes. I am very familiar with the White Mountain trails. My methods and comfort level would be different if we were talking about hiking in un-familiar territory or more extreme weather conditions such as the desert or Mt. Rainier for example.
 
I'm a 100% solo hiker in all seasons (although I have only officially started hiking in "winter conditions" two seasons ago - i.e. hikes with ice, snow, etc, say Nov-Mar for time purposes). All of my hikes are in the Whites on posted trails and I am generally well prepared (more than most as far as I can tell). I officially started logging my hikes two years ago:

2012 16 hikes, 166 miles, 40 summits (3 "winter" hikes)
2013 29 hikes, 283 miles, 35 summits (7 "winter" hikes)

I have had two significant injuries hiking (badly sprained ankle and dislocated shoulder) and was able to get out of the woods unassisted both times. I am willing to complete trails of any degree of difficulty but I am fairly conservative when weather is a factor. I bought my first GPS last summer in anticipation of winter hiking/more remote hiking and also bought a personal locator beacon this past November for the same reason/because of the prior injuries I had.
 
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Not sure it's useful to conflate hiking and climbing here.

Hiking solo, you have to suffer a major accident to need rescue. (Or you could get lost in a winter storm - that happens to groups all the time.) Climbing solo means one slip and you're dead. Some climbers are so good that climbing a cliff is like crossing the street to them, but those folks are rare.

I hike solo most of the time, but it's been years since I solo climbed anything over ten feet tall.
 
Not sure it's useful to conflate hiking and climbing here.

Hiking solo, you have to suffer a major accident to need rescue. (Or you could get lost in a winter storm - that happens to groups all the time.) Climbing solo means one slip and you're dead. Some climbers are so good that climbing a cliff is like crossing the street to them, but those folks are rare.

I hike solo most of the time, but it's been years since I solo climbed anything over ten feet tall.

Agreed about the added dangers of climbing however hiking a steep snowfield above Jefferson Ravine solo is also very different than snowshoeing the Boulder Loop Trail and both of those fall under hiking.

I asked about both hiking and climbing, not to compare the dangers, but to get a sense for the number of us out there solo under any circumstance who may at some point need a rescue and may have this fact held against them.

Edit: after 40 responses, no one has yet said they do not hike or climb solo at some point, more than 70% of those do so frequently in all seasons....keeping in mind this is not a scientific poll.
 
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Hiking solo is a matter of convenience to me. It's so
much easier to pick your own route, your own
pace, your own start time, etc... Also, as noted above there is something meditative about being alone in the woods.
That said, there are some trails I am less familiar with or that have tricky water crossings, steep scrambles, or that require a car spot for which company is welcome.
 
Hi all,

Yes, I absolutely solo hike (all 4 seasons) when conditions are favorable. There are some hikes which I prefer to have someone with me (Owl's Head, Isolation, A Zealand-Bonds Traverse). I enjoy hiking with others but sometimes there is nothing better for the mind and soul than a solo hike.

Be well,

Papa Z
 
I'd hike solo more often if I didn't have so many great friends whose company I enjoy.
 
I really enjoy hiking solo, and one of the biggest reasons is that I can be purely selfish in decision making. I am a fairly conservative hiker (despite hiking 4-season solo) and will turn back if the conditions warrant. When I'm with others I concern myself with my companion's feelings, and I know I've made some sketchy decisions based on not wanting to disappoint my companions (I'm a people-pleaser, for better or worse).
 
I was getting into hiking solo several years ago, doing a fair amount of trips in warmer weather. I have a group of really good friends that have got into hiking in the last 5 years so I haven't done a solo trip in a while. I'm thinking about doing a few this year though.
 
I've done more in the past, but have a loose group of hiking friends so these days I'm always going up with at least one or two other people, which is a nice way to catch up.
 
90% solo as my older friends have had to give up the game, a few younger friends, but they are in the middle of family development, so mostly solo 2/3 times a month
 
I always hike solo, as long as your definition of solo is not hiking with other people. I never hike without my dog. I remember a discussion on this site a number of year ago where some maintained that if you were with dog it wasn't solo. If S & R will accept that definition I'm happy with it. :) At any rate I checked all season solo but that does include my dog.
 
This poll strikes the heart for me. I almost always hike solo year round and have for years. I was fortunate enough to start out with wonderful friends and their parents occasionally who hiked, but as time wore on they became jaded and took alot of baggage with them to the woods. In the golden days, we would go out and be able to speak to each-other without talking....never daring to break the deafening silence or the sound of the wind that speaks deep tongues. Now, they are so disconnected that i cant rely on them to make good choices that allow you to have comfort and excel. I have gotten uncentered and downright depressed and had to go battle it out with myself in the woods, even not been able to reach a resolution at times, but in the end I grounded my life structure and self-possession so I could always enter that "place". At first I started solo-hiking out of interest and just sheer desire to be there without waiting for others. It was when I got my poles that i felt a little more safe because they saved me from some nasty falls. I was around 18. As time moved on, I hiked solo by sheer necessity, because of all of us having kids, conflicting schedules and even economic troubles at times. Some people I have seen forget how important he mountains were to them, while others were steered away by spouses lacking the same value or both. Now, I have hiked solo too much. As I have grown older, more secure, and more centered, not only do I feel more comfortable around differing people but I have learned the sheer joy of precious human beings. I meet so many fantastic people on the trail that just click.....but I never follow up, because most people would think you are deranged if you wanted to ask to hike with them in the future.....I guess some people just don't feel the same value in others I do, or are fortunate to be inundated with wonderful people......occasionally it works out though, especially with Mainers.They are usually over themselves enough, lack snobbery and see good people at a premium. The hard part for me now is that I DO want to meet people who are centered and know equally when to be silent and walk slower or methodically and quietly to soak up a stretch of inexplicably peaceful trail.....as they do also know when to make intoxicating jokes. I have found many newer hikers never saw the quiet of the early nineties, and don't even know that it is a resource and a value that they are missing, free of cellphones, idiosyncratic summit registers and huge gab groups. people used to take space at summits and give you room or take turns having quiet time on a summit....they would be deliberately be quiet around others and shared blissful smiles of conferred quiescence. there was equanimity, and random food sharing. Now, I see people using GPS and tracking realtime in spot, or doing breakneck traverses so far and so fast they miss a 450 year old tree 138 feet tall. I hope I meet some good people out there.......or on here. I think the thing that magnetizes as well as glues alike and good people together is those who have a true love of nature and share the virtue of leave no trace. If some people start with ticking off a list and end up becoming ghandi in the woods.....so be it. Perhaps some ride the middle path of elevating the mind with adventure, while restraining it with the anesthetic of serenity......but you have to be well enough to swallow the medicine. i welcome anyone who understands. in that context, i have found a camaraderie and bond that exists no where else. I takes a spiritual level humility and a reverence for the woods to allow two or three people to unite in serendipity effortlessly. That was once a standard for me, and now its a rare gift. I think society is busier and more electronic these days and people get stuck in the rooms in there heads, even among others, while the firmament of the outdoor cathedral beckons all with no ceiling or limit. Whats important is that I love human beings and am happy to see anyone getting the outdoor medicine, and Ive gotten over my self enough to enjoy the company of anyone with enough moxie to go "out there"
 
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Most of the time I hike solo (although with my dog). I first started hiking solo because I had to. I couldn't always get a friend to go along so if I wanted to hike I was on my own. The experience has increased ten fold since hiking with Marlie. Going solo gives me more options and lets me travel at my own pace. I do however like meeting new people and hiking in small groups. Usually 4 or less.
 
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