Help me go Solo!

Rocco, Its an interesting track, but being somewhat familiar with the area my guess is coyote or dog as well. I've camped not too far from that area and spent a night (solo) listening to a pack of coyotes yip at the moon as they traveled around me in the valley. About every hour they would wake me up in a different cardinal direction. So I am sure there are coyotes in the area.

I hike mostly solo, I can relate to initially feeling uneasy and even afraid at night while alone. If it helps I typically sleep just fine now. My profile pic is me after 3 solo nights hiking around 3 Sisters Oregon. All nights were spent alone under a small tarp. On my way to the trail I even saw a warning poster about a recent cougar attack, but I slept just fine for those 3 nights.

I took it in steps…
– just try doing one night at first
– use a tent at first
– go in areas that are not as isolated like Shenandoah national park
– sleep near a creek, always more comfortable, you don't hear the noises in the woods
– have a fire at night, always great to go to sleep watching the coals die down
– bring some whiskey, yes I admit this helped me a lot, 2 shots = brave
– move up to sleeping under a tarp and bivy, I was really afraid of this at first, but after trying it I found I was less afraid because I could look out if something woke me up
– hike long and hard, being exhausted will help you sleep
– hike in winter, less animals about, but a lot more time in the dark
– if whiskey helps, try a night without it, I don't take it anymore
– try sleeping aids like Tylenol PM
– keep a stick or hiking pole near you at night
– keep a few large rocks near you at night
– try sleeping on a ridge or mountain top, less likely to see or hear animals
– Camp around a full moon, you will be surprised how bright it is. I often tie a bandana around my eyes to sleep in a full moon

As someone pointed out just give it a go for one night. When you make it to morning you will feel like an entirely different person… a person who braved the wilderness on your own!

Jamie

Before you even go, let your mind run through the worst-case scenarios — and make a plan to deal with each one. Preparation will give you a sense of security.

I sleep with two metal things at arm's length, ready to clang together, with the bear spray and knife in easy reach (if only for the psychological comfort) and with the headlamp slung around my neck set to its brightest beam. Maybe, if you have a gadget with a 'panic button', it would help to have that within reach too.

The trick is being able to go out and think, "Whatever happens, I can deal." You're in more danger from falling in daylight than you are from sleeping in the dark.

Just kidding Rocco.

You seem brave enough just by creating this thread.

Familiarity helps. Day hike a few times in an area you could camp alone in. Pick yourself out a good sleeping spot and hang out there a while. Go each time fully packed and ready to stay. Pitch your tent and lay out the perfect sleep spot. If you decide not to stay the night just break camp early and hike back to civilization and call it a gear shakeout.

I enjoy gear shakeout hikes to familiar sites and often find myself staying.

Our fears are generally a lack of knowledge. So study up on everything wild where you hike. You will find there is little to fear… other than falling off a mountain or drowning.

I would not try to muffle the noises… just lay back try to identify what they are, and then enjoy them.

Put away anything you think might be useful for "self defense" and keep a camera in your shoe next to your head. If you hear something really spooky, take a picture of it :)

I think generally speaking the animal noises you hear are prey animals and therefore not a danger to you.

Predators you're not likely to hear coming. But that probably won't happen anyway.

I'm kind of weirded out by the thought of someone watching over me while I sleep. Too many horror movies probably. A shelter helps with that.

I prefer to hike alone but have lunch and camp with others.

…

Many great suggestions above. I will reiterate two and suggest another.

1) I would buy bear spray. It gives you a mental edge knowing you've got something that can stop anything in its tracks in NC.

2) Get a bright light. My suggestion is a Tiablo A-9 and get the aspheric lens. I have one and you won't regret it. The A-9, with that aspheric lens, throws a beam of light farther than anything I've ever seen. It gives me comfort to know I can use it to spot something a great distance away or strong enough to see into distant trees.

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?335491-Tiablo-A9-quot-Throw-King-quot-XR-E-R2-amp-quot-Flood-quot-XM-L-U2-Review-ASPHERIC-BEAMSHOTS-RUNTIMES

2) Set up perimeter security around your tent for less than $20. Buy 400' spool of 30-lb fishing line and a 130 decibel personal keychain alarm.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82kUoND4Ubw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vt_ZATda2XU

There's something comforting knowing you have the tools to hear, see it and stop it. They'll calm your nerves and allow you to actually listen the night noises which, with every passing night, makes you more comfortable in the wilderness.

Just me, but carrying super bright lights, bear spray, and setting up a perimeter sounds like feeding irrational fears. That doesn't sound like a good idea to me. Much better IMO to embrace the experience go with minimal or (horrors!) no light, skip the bear spray, and skip the perimeter.

The reality of it is that in general your life at home is likely to be more dangerous than your time in the woods.

You don't really NEED bear spray or bright lights, remember it is pretty safe out there.

But if bear spray or whatever makes you feel a bit more at ease the first night, then take it! Don't let anyone shame you saying "Its extra weight." Think of it as 8oz of "Peace of Mind" weight, or "Comfort in the woods training wheels." You may not always carry it but if it helps at first do what makes YOU comfortable.

Honestly the chance that something in the woods in NC will bother you is pretty small. You are much more at risk back home. Cougars and wolves are a non issue. Bears are shy and hunted in NC and as I said black bears don't attack people in their beds. The only thing you really need to worry about at night is camping under a window maker. During the day don't step on a snake or fall off a cliff and you'll be fine.

Bright lights are nice anyway if you ever need to hike at night because they help you spot landmarks farther away.

Try starting with a hike you've done before. Familiar territory or trail will take the edge off of the "unknown".

Or going hiking in some awful swamp in Louisiana or Florida. After a few nights there, any other place will be heaven on earth :)

My suggestion would be to look at the age and locations of all they guys posting on here. Most of them have been backpacking a long time. And they're still here to tell about it. Also note that many people here backpack in much more dangerous places than western NC. There is very little danger in anything that goes bump in the night in western NC. Its a pretty safe place.

+1 on ear plugs

They take just enough of the audio edge off to help prevent you from waking up in the middle of the night due to the mouse of possum checking out the enticing smells at your campsite that you think is a big bear or wolf. (although I have had a small pack of wolves circle our tent in Montana once). Or that shuffling of the person in the tent next door. Thermarest should also just ship new NeoAirs with a pair of earplugs.

But if the issue is trouble you might have mentally settling down for the night after an intense day, I bring my little iPod shuffle and listen to my backlog of podcasts or audio books as I doze off to sleep. It is a worthy 0.5oz addition to my pack. But this is coming from someone that listens to CSPAN for fun. I never listen to it during the day, though. That is time for contemplation and appreciation of my surroundings.

"They take just enough of the audio edge off to help prevent you from waking up in the middle of the night due to the mouse of possum checking out the enticing smells at your campsite that you think is a big bear or wolf."

True, but they also ensure that when something is coming to chew your face off you'll have no idea you're in mortal danger until you smell its breath and wake up in terror.

"True, but they also ensure that when something is coming to chew your face off you'll have no idea you're in mortal danger until you smell its breath and wake up in terror."

This is very true, and it's why I've never worn ear plugs again after my first marriage…..

Bravo Doug.

I left that wide open, didn't I?

You cannot live your life afraid of one-in-a-million things happening.

Hedge your odds by following best protocols when needed, then relax.

If its going to happen, its going to happen.

This and Nick's brain just made my day.

I mostly backpack solo. I like to hear the night sounds, but I understand that they may bother some people, especially at first. Without getting into whether this is a good thing, or whether someone is depriving his/herself using earplugs, I'd like to point out one very crucial thing about earplugs which may not be apparent to people considering it casually – earplugs don't exactly eliminate the unidentifiable sounds that bother people.

I mean they do, but I suspect that people imagine this something like magically editing out sounds that may cause you "distress", wake you up, etc. What you get that replaces these sounds is, to my ear, an unnatural silence – all the white noise, the wind, water noise if there is any nearby, and so on goes away. The second I put in earplugs I instantly feel MORE anxiety-ridden, exactly like being blindfolded. This is because my situational awareness goes way down. So the silence in effect replaces the sound of the bear walking by once during the night, with the silence that might yet contain a bear walking by at EVERY point in time during the whole night. LOL

So NO, I can't stand them. When I put them in I instantly want them out if they are doing their job at all well. I sleep with my window open 8 months of the year, and like to hear the animal and other sounds, most of which I can identify at this point. It is possible that this is a kind of conditioning that makes me feel very uncomfortable with silence – I have heard people from big cities can't sleep in the country since they need to hear the sirens and people talking on the street, etc. So this may be a similar effect.

On the other hand, near total silence should make anyone more anxiety ridden unless they have drugged themselves into a stupor. My advice, if you want to learn the very different lessons you get from going solo – what Edward Abbey called "a hard and brutal mysticism" – is to embrace the anxiety for a while and see if you can learn something about yourself from it. Most of it – the pointless part at least – should go away by itself after a while.

"1. Carry a bright light
2. Sleep next to a river so the sound of running water will occupy your mind.
3. If you have to, get a decent sized knife, stick, or bear spray to make you feel less vulnerable.
4. Stick to enclosed shelters if it makes you feel better or use a tarp if you would feel better seeing whats rummaging about. (As a person who tried hunting once or twice, that BIG, HEAVY STEPPING creature you are fixating on is probably a squirrel or a mouse. They sound huge when you are paying attention to the noises)
5. Don't watch Deliverance before you go out."

You do know that the Blair Witch laughs (or cackles) with derision at your preventative measures…right?

The guy I normally go backpacking with has hearing issues and needs to wear hearing aids. At night he can literally turn off his hearing. Some day he is going to have a bear ravage his camp and not even wake up.

Camping by a river is nice. But at least for me and many people (and the research on noise pollution confirms) even white noise can induce chronic stress. And the louder the more so.

Try this. Spend time by a noisy river for a few hours. Pay attention to your body. Then walk away farther into the forest where it is quiet (it is amazing how just a few dozen yards can drop decibel levels) and notice what your body does. I bet you will notice your whole body relaxes with removal of noise. Now of course, a subtle bubbling brook is different than a roaring river. But then if it is a little brook, you are not really getting much white noise out of it.

Of course, there are other good reasons not to camp right next to water (night time temperature, condensation issues, low impact issues, animals need to access water and your presence impedes them, etc.).

And I'm not sure you need to hear the sounds of nature WHILE you are sleeping. Yes, I want to hear them when I am awake. But I also want to get a good night's sleep. And if ear plugs help you do that, then its all good. Part of the point of sleep is that your brain is trying not to be attuned to your surroundings. Its looking for something else, if it can get it.

"The only thing you really need to worry about at night is camping under a window maker."

+1 All that hammering and scratchy glass-cutting noise gets on my nerves too, let alone the potential for scrap glass falling on your head in the night.

When I am sleeping outdoors, I don't think that I am afraid of the wildlife. To the contrary, I want to see and photograph the wildlife. Now, I will agree, some wild animals can do a lot of damage to gear, steal your food, etc. However, unless you get out to grizzly bear country, there isn't much that's going to try to harm you.

Since I want to photograph the nocturnal animals, I need an alert system to warn me and maybe wake me up from sleep. So, I use a twenty foot piece of strong black nylon thread. Along it, I have tied some big jingle bells. Yes, the Christmasy kind made out of metal. I tie this thread with bells up about one foot off the ground, either between tree trunks or bushes or rocks or off to my bear canister. Whenever anything jingles the bells, I wake up, grab the camera, and prepare to shoot.

So far, for all of the times that I have put this up, I have gotten only one night photo, but that was of a wolverine, so all the hassle was worthwhile.

–B.G.–

Fear is your friend. It's why you do this, to feel something. We all have our ghosts. I have certainly had mine. Try and think of those experiences as part of the whole. Lose a little sleep, it wont kill you. I still have my moments from time to time. It's all part of re-learning how to be human again. Finally, if you ever reach a point where you just cant take it anymore, remember, you reign supreme. Come out of your tent and let all the mountain know you are not prey, but predator. Take your place at the throne, oh mighty king.