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<DIV>Equally inspiring as mountaintop vistas and moments of connection with
nature are the opportunities for solitude I seek on my long hikes, most
especially along the Grand Enchantment Trail.<BR><BR>The notion of solitude
means different things to different <BR>people. For some, solitude could be an
hour's walk away from <BR>the car in woods near home, encountering no other
people. <BR>For others, a weekend backpacking trip along the Appalachian
<BR>Trail can provide sufficient solitude, meeting other hikers <BR>here and
there, perhaps camping among others, but for the <BR>most part traveling
alone.<BR><BR>Most long-distance hikers I've met spend the majority of <BR>their
time walking alone, or at least at a certain <BR>figurative distance from other
people, moving quietly <BR>through their own thoughts and emotions. To varying
degrees <BR>we all experience some definition of solitude on our hikes. <BR>For
some hikers the solitude may be more than they would <BR>prefer, or the
prospects for solitude too daunting to tackle <BR>without a dedicated partner
(with whom they can share the <BR>solitude).<BR><BR>Yet for those who seek
solitude in the strongest terms, <BR>increasingly there is less and less of it
to be found on our <BR>hiking trails and in our national forests and parks. More
<BR>trail users and a greater diversity of user groups have made <BR>the trails
more crowded in many regions. In these regions <BR>and others, our public lands
are increasingly used as well <BR>for motorized recreation, the impacts of which
we see and <BR>hear with greater frequency, whether at length or directly
<BR>along the trail corridor. High-standard roadways bisect our
<BR>long-distance trails at ever shorter intervals. And where <BR>our trails
leave the larger tracts of public land to travel <BR>on narrow corridors or
easements, residential and commercial <BR>development moves steadily
closer.<BR><BR>Solitude, under these circumstances, becomes an ever more
<BR>rare commodity. And long-distance hikers, in particular, are <BR>vulnerable
by virtue of their constant, rapid linear <BR>movement. In a day or two we're in
and out of a remote <BR>wilderness area where others might spend a week hiking
<BR>shorter distances, intensively mining the island of solitude <BR>available
there. When it comes to opportunities for escaping <BR>a crowded world,
long-distance hikers, it seems, are the <BR>proverbial canaries in the
coalmine.<BR><BR>The more long walks I've completed, the less I see solitude as
an <BR>obstacle to my enjoyment and the more it becomes a genuine <BR>objective
of the hike. To seek solitude, now, is to abandon <BR>myself from the ills of
modern life, and the more I find of <BR>solitude the higher my hopes for a
fragile planet. In the <BR>months and miles spent along the AT and PCT, like
many other <BR>long-distance hikers I've undoubtedly experienced a great
<BR>deal of alone time, either physically or emotionally, and to <BR>an extent
it's made me who I am today. It has become a part <BR>of what draws me back
to the trail experience again <BR>and again.<BR><BR>As my expectations for
solitude have shifted over time, I've <BR>found myself drawn toward different
experiences, such as the <BR><A
href="http://www.grandenchantmenttrail.org">Grand Enchantment Trail</A> project.
Where solitude existed on other trails before, it had been less well defined for
me, either as I did not yet know quite how to see it, or certainly because it
was often less dramatically presented. Had solitude meant a week of seeing
no vehicles throughout the roadless High Sierra with the caveat
of seeing many of my fellow hikers? Or was solitude, perhaps, an
extended stretch along the Pennsylvania A.T., southbound in
fall with no other hikers encountered (but with plenty of busy road
crossings)? Each of these solitude experiences were interesting novelties in
their own way, but "full solitude" was a much less common occurrence. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>On the CDT, and especially now the GET, I've become better acquainted with
the notion of "full solitude," or "full-day solitude." It's one of those things
that can't be predicted, but that usually puts a silly grin on my face at day's
end, when, rolling into camp, I suddenly realize that the entire day has passed
without intrusion from the outside world - no people and no vehicles, no signs
of man. It's not that I take pleasure in being misanthropic - I'm really not.
But perhaps what it is, at long last, is a readiness to distinguish and to
relish the distinction between what is and is not natural and untamed, a
recognition that the unnatural, tamed existence will always be there,
filling up the majority of my days. Better, now, to embrace the solitude I've
been granted as a rare and precious gift.</DIV>
<DIV><BR>With these thoughts in mind, I headed out this spring on my 5th hike
along the Grand Enchantment (this one a section hike). As on previous GET forays
I found my solitude. I experienced a few familiar stints of "full-day solitude"
- no people, no vehicles - as well as the occasional stretches of "full-day
sensory solitude" (no people or vehicles near or far, seen or heard). In one
case I went 6 straight days in "full-day sensory solitude" mode, which was
absolutely staggering and, as it turns out, became the inspiration for this
banter here, as well as a solitude log.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>My "solitude log" is nothing more than an account of my day-to-day
encounters along the trail with other resource users and society
at large. As it turned out, while reflecting upon my hike it wasn't difficult to
recall whatever encounters had occurred each day. And so I broke out
the information into table format. I probably went overboard with the concept,
but in any case, for anyone interested here's the resulting log:</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><A
href="http://www.simblissity.net/get/get-solitude.shtml">http://www.simblissity.net/get/get-solitude.shtml</A></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>The blue shading offers a visual depiction of my "full-day solitude" days.
The frequency of such days seems noteworthy given that I hiked this portion of
the route during prime hiking season, both in terms of GET thru-hiking, and
generally speaking, for outdoor recreation in this region. The table ends with a
bit of statistical analysis (groan, snore...), and as the grand finale
tabulation: </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2><STRONG>Percentage of Total Hiking Days offering full-day
solitude: 46%</STRONG> </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=2></FONT></STRONG> </DIV>
<DIV>Stay with me folks, that's nearly one in two! Given that most of the other
days were also mostly solitude-filled - a hiker here, a passing vehicle there -
this hike felt more like walking on the back side of the moon. (Never mind
that the sun was shining, there was mostly plenty of water to drink, and the
desert was in bloom.)</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I loved every minute of it!</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>But that's me. And for anyone similarly disposed, know that this is only
one such opportunity for achieving solitude, the great antidote to modern life.
Granted, there were surely also times and places along the GET where modern life
had run amuck, where the aforementioned ills do exist and where in some cases
they now appear more threatening than ever. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Where else do we continue to find solitude on our long-distance trails and
within our system of public lands? Where can we travel, thru-hiker style, and
still escape from the outside world and our fellow man for a time? For that
matter, where is our solitude, like our public lands themselves, threatened by
encroachment and overuse? At the top of the Solitude Log, at the URL above,
is a link to download a blank log for your own use. Open it as a
spreadsheet within MS Excel or Quattro, and adjust the number of rows as
necessary to accommodate the length of your hike. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>The notion of "getting away from it all" is not the only source of
satisfaction in heading out on a long walk. But for some of us, it
is equally compelling as the memories of hiker friendships
and the wonderful trail town indulgences along the way. Our
moments spent walking in solitude can also say much about the health of the
natural world that is the cornerstone of our trail experiences. Let these
moments speak when next you venture afoot, and then share them with the
world upon your return.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>- blisterfree</DIV></BODY></HTML>