So you're considering taking a solo backpacking journey or else maybe it's
just cross your mind really ask anybody that goes solo camp and I think they're
gonna first tell you that it's out of necessity you get to a certain age where
all of your friends and and your self included you get married you have
children you buy stuff you have a job and all that backpack and you did is a
young person now somehow gets kind of pushed to the side for a few years but
those that use the backpack with you may have given it up man I really want to go
this week I've got nobody to go I'm going alone
that's usually how it starts in the woods now I think a solo backpacking
journey is a little bit easier for someone that's a little bit introverted
as opposed to extroverted but if you're a spirited introvert like me meaning
when I get around people and I'm in your face I'm up in there when I'm alone I
kind of get into my own world introverts get their energy by being alone
extroverts want to grab your energy and it gives them energy but regardless it
takes a little practice to get used to doing a solo I think one of the first
things on solo is to be confident be confident in your skills not cocky but
confident I trust my skills I know how to build a fire
I'm versed in first-aid the first thing you need to kind of assess before you go
alone and go how comfortable am i with my backwoods backpacking skills are you
confident in this journey and what you're gonna learn to do as a solo
backpacker is build your confidence little by little in being out there by
yourself now what I really like about a solo is it's just so much easier because
I'm in show business I can often go camping during the week so I let other
people know hey you want to go camping Tuesday through Friday well you know
dude I go to work man some of us go to work you know just the whole planning is
easier the driving up the arriving at the trailhead trying to figure out how
to shuttle cars or get everybody's schedule involved the more people you
have on a trip the more work it can be some time to get everybody schedules
where are you gonna meet how are you gonna go you're gonna go in one car meet
at somebody's house so solo is easy in that respect you can just set your own
pace you know sometimes I get to the trailhead and I planned a trip where I
feel like cranking out some miles that's gonna be my thing so I get out there and
and I can go but if I decide to change that plan in the middle and I've done my
trip planning and looked and see where there's campsites I can totally go I can
slow it down I got to this one camp I never knew how beautiful it was gonna be
so I'm gonna stop here because I don't know what my next camps gonna look like
I'm gonna stop early early and sometimes when you stop early early on a trip you
got to figure out what are you gonna do to fill that day and that's what a lot
of people wander on a solo now filling the day I don't have a problem with that
what I really have learned in time was to if I have time in camp to just enjoy
that time sometimes it'll sit in my hammock sideways and just man I enjoy
the nature here in the wind watching birds here in fish jump taking a little
nap sitting back up just about being just being in the moment and that's
something I'm after in life so maybe you can just practice slowing down slow your
breathing down and just be there bring a book um work on your fire building
skills you can do photography bring a camera cameras a great way to go around
and just notice little things you'll figure it out if you don't want to get
the camp early then plan your walk so that you're gonna take all day walking
and then when you get to camp you've got a little less time before it gets dark
so that's a little less time to kill you know a solo is a great time to maybe
face a few of your fears a lot of people get nervous when it gets dark you know
me I don't usually build a fire just because I'm lazy I would just sort of
sit there and I'd have my candle lantern going and just sit out at night in the
dark and I blow the candle lantern out and just sit in the dark now there might
be a moon it might be totally dark what I got out of that was you'll just
realize that there's nothing different happening at night than there is in the
day the wind is still blowing it looks different it feels different
you know people are always going aren't your animals out at night well bears are
out in the day and night so just get used to being in the dark by sitting in
the dark and you realize it's the same stuff happening it's just either light
or dark that really helped me a lot just getting comfortable out there ah I can't
smell a thing going on a solo backpacking trip is a real test of your
self-reliance that's what feels great at the end you go man I was out for two or
three days by myself and I handled it be confident in your camping skills and
your hiking skills are you in shape don't go if you're totally out of shape
and by that I mean you know you're out of shape get a little better shape for
it so you know you have the stamina to be out there decision making you
definitely have to have meetings with yourself and make better decisions and
not be impulsive I tend to be an impulsive guy backpacking solo has
taught me to go slow down killer let's think this through it might just be
going down a treacherous hill a trail I got my hiking poles and I go you know
what nobody's looking you're an old man walk down it like an old man be very
careful check your footing because all it takes is a fall and hitting your head
and concussion yourself and you know you might knock yourself out and stand up
and you've got a concussion and you don't know where you are I read a great
book about that it's two people that get lost in Minnesota I think it's called
lost in the wild I'm gonna find out what it is and link it below in the
description box below this video you should read it because it's two accounts
of people getting lost in the woods and the decisions they made right and wrong
and one guy was a canoe guide and he went out they went ashore he slipped on
a rock looking for a way to kind of get his guide his group through the woods
hit his head concussed himself didn't know where he was and ended up just
taking off through the woods rather than walking back to his canoers so think
ahead a little bit plan think things out it's not being nervous it's just think
things through a little bit and make good decisions play it a little bit safe
when you're by yourself it's really important to leave a trip plan
at home which I covered in my last videos about trip planning write it on a
piece of paper put it on the wall somewhere in your apartment or your home
or let your wife or your husband or your kids or whoever it is girlfriend
boyfriend whatever let them know where you are
write it out where you'll be when you're leaving when you plan to come home so
people know you're out in the woods carry a whistle this is the storm
whistle that thing is I barely blue it's super loud it doesn't have any little
ball in it have that on you wear it around your neck on a chain or have it
in your pocket because if you do fall or slip even out just hiking around from
camp you do the old traditional I'm in trouble
three blasts you can hear this thing you got a chance of somebody you know
finding you on the other hand I carry my inReach Explorer which has an SOS tab on
it but what if you don't have that with you when you go you know you decide to
walk down to the river or something and you get hurt on the way maybe it's a
half mile from camp you don't have that on you it's doing you no good
so have that whistle carry that with you and make sure it's in a pocket that
won't fly out I saw when my buddy Carolina backpacker fell down the
mountain and the limbal gorge all of his things that weren't really zipped in
flew off his body so you want to make sure that your safety device is attached
to you and don't feel like a hero out there you know bring it with you because
when you're out by yourself it might be your saving grace you know another thing
if you're gonna take your first solo and you got a trail that you've walked
before and you're comfortable with it take that trail it's nice it takes a
little worried off of you it makes it a little bit easier if you kind of know
the terrain you're on you sort of know what you're getting into you probably
know where the trail heads are or if you can bail out that's a smart thing to do
it just makes getting used to doing a solo a little easier if you've done that
trail before now in my experience I've found the further back in the woods I am
from trail heads the more comfortable I am and I'm talking about what a lot of
people worry about are other human beings okay maybe maybe people that want
to harm you closer you are to big trailheads or
party places yeah you know that's where people are gonna be you know about an
ax-murderer Hank I probably be like any criminal I
don't want to work that hard to get out there sometimes backwards trails you got
to watch these trail heads to make sure they're not party places or someone has
easy access to you and I'm not gonna go into self-defense or what you're gonna
do to protect yourself it can be your wits it can be a knife it can be pepper
spray it can be you bring your pistol out there you use your kung fu powers
maybe you just put the evil eye on somebody whatever it is think through it
be comfortable with it and use it know your limits know the limits of your
physical ability know the limits of your comfort backpacking know your limits but
you got to get used to just kind of visiting yourself getting into your own
thoughts or letting all those thoughts go and enjoying nature more nature is
gonna become way more alive to you and embrace it enjoy it be there with it one
nice thing about a solo is you definitely end up seeing more wildlife
cuz you're you know sometimes I'm kind of singing to myself or I'm filming but
you know a lot of times you're just you're just grooving along and enjoying
it or your thoughts are up in your head and it's not a big group hiking through
the woods and you're quiet and you just see more things like Fox and grouse and
woodpeckers and birds and falcons and you know owls and you know not the big
three necessarily wolf moose and bear but just deer and just you know just
more wildlife stuff you see sometimes ago I don't even know what that was I've
seen the Lynx before see pine martens you're just gonna see more birds you
will just see more wildlife so really enjoy that because it's a gift make sure
that you're very brushed up on your navigation skills whether you use a GPS
or a map or you're on a trail like spear hiking trail which is fairly well marked
still study up and know where you're going be confident with a compass or
whatever it is you use because you're again you're out
by yourself and if you feel like you're going the wrong way you get that feeling
in your gut stop this is another time for you to make a decision backtrack
figure out where you are before you go too far
there was a time up there on this pier hiking trail my pre hammock days and I I
thought gosh ugh I'll never get lost and I went back in the woods to get some
firewood and I was carrying the firewood back to camp and I went which way is
camp and I could not figure it out so I learned in scouts to do the wagon wheel
method and the wagon wheel is going if you don't know where you are what I did
is I set this wood down I took my hat off put it on top of the wood and you
walk one direction and you keep looking back to make sure you can see that hat
that you hang up on a limb or put on something and you go as far as you can
all keeping that insight and go and that doesn't seem right walk back to that go
another direction so you just keep going a direction but you keep that hat or
that wood in sight and you can even do it twice like you have something you can
see there you go as far as you can maybe you have something else of your bandanna
or something hang that up on the limb and go again but you don't lose track of
those things behind you so you can keep coming back to where that wood pile of
where you first realize your lost art and on this one trip with the wood I was
totally wrong I thought camp was that way it was that way be smart out there
you've got to get used to the solitude even if you're craving it yeah it's one
of those things that you kind of camp that you're gonna get a lot of it out
there by yourself sleeping out in the woods by yourself walking all day
all your time is with yourself your meals are with yourself everything is
with yourself so embrace that solitude it's a great time to get to sort of
figure out you know a little bit about yourself
solos are gonna take you sometimes three or four times to really start going hey
man I really like this I can I can stop when I want I can sleep in in the
morning if I want I can wake up at the crack of dawn and hit the trail and I
don't have to sit around and wait for my camp mates who are sleeping if you're an
older man and you're out hiking alone be prepared for
people to be a little nervous when they see I always pull off the trail first
when I see people and I hang my hands up on top of my hiking poles and look a big
beer and I just sort of say hey and if they want to keep on walking by cool I
don't say much to him I just say hey great day how you doing and if people
want to talk then we talk but every time that happens with a group going by I
start walking again I turn around and look at them and you can always see the
person the back they're walking but their heads turning around looking to be
going dude I want to make sure that God's going the other way than we are
that's it give it a try sometimes go online you can search for solo
backpacking you'll find more information in people's blogs about it but 7 boom