[pct-l] The hazards of hiking alone

[Jeffrey Olson]

I have hiked alone for years as well.  I've learned to trust my 
experience rather than equipment.  I camp within shouting distance of 
the trail. 


But the greatest hazard I found was my own inner voices - the sense of 
time stretching endlessly with no purpose or meaning as the wilderness 
unfolds.  I love to hear how others can hike day after day alone and 
revel in the solitude.  I thought at one point I enjoyed it too, but 
found it just too hard emotionally.  The best part of my long section 
hikes have been those days when I meet up with someone with whom I can 
laugh and tell stories and argue philosophy. 


I used to think those who huddled in the "pack" for social nurturance 
were not evolved.  If that's so, then I'm not.  I am not bent to spend 
that much time alone, although I am bent to live alone and spend most of 
my time alone.  I need the touch of human contact, just a little touch, 
to live in relative balance and harmony. 


Experience hiking will shed the learned fears.  What that shedding opens 
up is so individual that it can only be revealed in story, how one 
narrates one's life... 


Jeffrey Olson
Martin, SD