Let’s talk about the advantages of being a single female backpacker for a change….

I see lots of solo women when I'm backpacking in Oregon and Washington

I have to admit I sometimes think "there's a solo woman" as though it's a little unusual

I think it's great

As time goes on, it's less unusual

Thank you for a post. I will send it to my daughters, whom I worry about more in the dorms than out in the woods.

>"a woman hiking solo is unusual must vary regionally"

>"a woman hiking solo is unusual must vary regionally"

I was hiking along an established trail but a little early in the season and mid week so nobody was out. A solo woman was coming out and I smiled and said "Hi" as I usually would. She didn't make eye contact, looked away, and kind of shied away with her body.

Which surprised me, here in Alaska, and I thought, "Whatever, maybe not from around here (I see that behavior more near big cities), or she's had a bad experience, or who knows?"

Then replaying it in my mind, I realized she had a basket under one arm and "shying away" from me mostly hid the basket. Ah! She was collecting morels and didn't want me to know (should I back track to her secret location – mushroom hunters can be very cagey). She wasn't concerned about HER safety but the safety of her mushroom patch.

Just wanted to say thank you for posting this piece. I haven't had a good line of thinking to encourage women who say to me "Well, you're a guy so you can do that." When I hear that kind of thinking it's saddening. Why should dudes be the only ones who can enjoy solo-trekking? Too many women miss out on so much because of fear. Your piece gives me some better conversational handholds to use next time I hear that.

Excellent post.

People ask me all the time if I'm not afraid to "go out there without a gun" and I always say that the real troublemakers do not hike 30 miles into the Cascades to commit a crime, they hang out at near day hiking campgrounds.

Gut durchdacht und geschrieben.

Well said, Lori.

While I admire your independence, if I knew that my daughter or wife was alone and hitchhiking on the freeway I think I'd have a heart attack. Perhaps I'm a bit jaded after living in NYC , but I have had run-ins with a fair share of lunatics.

To each his (or her :D) own. If you enjoy the freedom then more power to you.

though getting rides was discussed in the OP, there's still plenty of solo backpacking to do that doesn't involve hitchhiking.

of course, it's more of a thru-hike specific issue, with a separate set of risks and ways to mitigate. Though being female makes it more risky, it also makes the mitigations easier – i.e. easier to successfully approach a kindly looking older couple at a trailhead.

I've never picked-up a hitchhiker, but I probably would give a solo female backpacker a ride if asked, if I was at a thru hike trailhead, with another person, and she had a legit/sane vibe about her. Whereas I most likely wouldn't give a guy a ride.

German Tourist and Lori have said it better than any guy on this thread.

If you enjoy your fears, knock yourself out. But you won't convince me without the data.

What he said. It sure is tough convincing fear-mongers with data, however!

From a review about "Wild."

Gentlemen! Let’s play a little game. I call it “Creep or Normal Guy?”

The way you play is you have less than a second to decide whether a man you don’t know is a threat or not. If you identify a normal guy as a threat you could get called a bitch; if you identify a creep as a normal guy you could end up dead. This is fun, isn’t it? Now play it every day, with nearly every man you see, in nearly every situation you’re in, from the time puberty hits to … well, I turned 38 this week. Can someone tell me when I can stop playing?

What a cynical, paranoid world view. http://www.washingtonpost.com/express/wp/2014/12/05/wild-tells-the-story-of-every-womans-least-favorite-game-creep-or-normal-guy/

Many years ago when I was in college at UC Santa Cruz, I would close the library late at night. the library was in the middle of a forest, with a long dark path leading back to a bus stop or housing. I enjoyed the walk to and from the library through the beautiful trees, even in the dark. then I 'discovered' that the women students could not go on this path alone, like me, and didn't enjoy it for the very good reason of the history of rapes on this path. In fact there were a lot of places women aren't safe going to that are perfectly fine for me as a male. The point is: it's not a 'psychological' problem–certainly not a weakness–that women have to 'get over' in order to feel secure. What has to change is mens' behavior. We make it objectively not safe for women in too many situations. there's a basis in reality for the 'paranoid' view expressed in the quote above.

"… there's a basis in reality for the 'paranoid' view expressed in the quote above."

I agree wholeheartedly that risks exist in city and urban environments (14 million sexual assaults were reported in 2010), but not nearly to the same degree in the woods.

You can certainly carry that perspective into the woods and let it dominate your experience, as in Wild, but if you subtract assaults within a mile of trailheads, if think we'd find the trail is far, far safer than the sidewalk.

There is no doubt people have to be smart and careful because there are definitely bad people out there.

But thinking "nearly every man you see, in nearly every situation you’re in" might kill or rape you is the very definition of paranoia. It's a crippling worldview. As Christine so rightly points out, that kind of thinking, by women and parents and loved ones, keeps thousands of women off the trails. Not living your life is also a tragedy.

Don't trust blindly be default. Don't be fearful by default.

Cheryl Strayed's greatest threat was her own bad judgment.

This is a very complex topic but after reading the whole review I must say I share Buck's opinion.

The PCT (or any other hiking trail) is a very safe environment and the author's lashing out is unfair to the trail community. Like any other – male or female – hiker I have received so much help from strangers and other hikers – without any hidden agenda. The author implies in her review that about every male Cheryl Strayed met on the trail was only out to hit on her. This is just not what happens on the trail… especially not from other male hikers. On the contrary: One thing I like so much about the trail community is that gender, age, status etc does not matter like in "normal" society. You are jugded by what kind of human being you are, not by your gender. Although I personally have never been harrassed as a female by any other male hiker there might be exceptions. But they definitely are not the norm like the author tries to imply.

I wholeheartedly agree with Buck: "But thinking "nearly every man you see, in nearly every situation you’re in" might kill or rape you is the very definition of paranoia. It's a crippling worldview." And I would like to add: It is not only a crippling worldview, it is just not true.

I wish so much that more women would get out of this perceived "general victimhood". Think more about what great things you can do and achieve and less of what bad things can potentially happen to you. Be careful, but not fearful.

Lowlife thugs and the wilderness don't go together, but campgrounds can harbor a way above average number of these kind of people.

If you're a bad guy on the run, motels are not good. Police departments routinely scan motel guest lists for the wanted.

Campgrounds on the other hand are a good cheap place for gypsy criminals to hang out. They are the kind of place where a lone female could be in danger.

A woman was murdered on a hiking trail back near my hometown of Louisville, KY back in 1996. Granted it was a municipal park, but it's rated (at 6000 acres) as the largest county forest/park in the country. It contains the 6.5 mile Siltstone trail. Anyway, the story goes that the young woman used to hang around the small lake and picnic area before she did her hikes. She was a Cheryl Strayed type who was trying to get away from the drugs, and just wanted to be out in nature. Turns out that what the police believe was a serial killer (they never did figure out who did it) noticed her hanging around and then stalked her into the woods. She was later found naked and strangled to death near the Siltstone. But yes it was a municipal park and not out in the wilderness (yet it was heavily forested).

To address another issue on this thread, hitch-hiking. I used to hitch all over the country and I don't have any problem getting rides because I learned the importance of appearance. If you're a guy and you want to get rides, carry a collapsible bucket, fresh razors, small mirror, toothbrush, hairbrush and relatively clean clothes. Every other day you need to shave, wash hair and brush teeth. I don't care if you have to go to a lake or stream to get water, and then heat up shaving water over a fire. Call it superficial if you want, I know what works. An exception might be the PCT culture, but elsewhere in the country people don't want to pick up a dirty, disheveled looking guy.

As far as women hitch-hiking, well, I wouldn't be naive. When interviewed, a lot of men in in prison for serial rape and murder talk about how they would cruise the interstates and highways looking for a vulnerable women.

But out on a wilderness trail, I'd say it's Powerball Lottery odds that a woman would be in danger. Let's face it, backpackers are a pretty good breed of people!

"To address another issue on this thread, hitch-hiking. I used to hitch all over the country and I don't have any problem getting rides because I learned the importance of appearance. In order to be a successful (male) hitcher you need to carry a collapsible bucket, fresh razors, small mirror, toothbrush, hairbrush and relatively clean clothes. Then once a month you need to make it to a cheap barber shop to get a haircut. Every other day you must shave, wash hair and brush teeth. I don't care if you have to go to a lake or stream to get water, and then heat up your shaving water over a fire, YOU MUST LOOK CLEAN WHEN YOU STICK YOUR THUMB OUT. Call it superficial if you want, I know what works. An exception might be the PCT culture, but elsewhere in the country people don't want to pick up a dirty, disheveled looking guy. "

I know its not the point of the thread, but I've hitchhiked multiple times with long hair, a huge beard and been a bit dirty/smelly. Granted it was in Alaska, so that may be another exception. Hitchhiking with a big or medium sized backpack is a lot different than doing without. People generally seem to have some preconceived idea/notion of who you are/what you're doing.

"You can certainly carry that perspective into the woods and let it dominate your experience, as in Wild, but if you subtract assaults within a mile of trailheads, if think we'd find the trail is far, far safer than the sidewalk."

+1 But attitudes acquired by years of living in a creep infested urban environment are not amenable to being turned off like a light when they are no longer an accurate perception of reality. I wonder roughly how long it takes for most women to make the transition on a longer hike, given that there is no standard time to accomplish it? Follow on question: How is the transition, assuming it occurs, affected by going into towns to resupply and thus passing thru the 1 mile from trail head potential creep zone multiple times on a thru hike?

earlier in this thread I wholeheartedly endorsed women hiking solo; it's a great idea. and yes the wilderness is far safer for solo women than any urban environment. But I think that there's a kind of 'socialization' that women go through that men don't have to regarding their safety around strangers. I certainly agree that this kind of thing probably can't be just switched off in an afternoon before a big hike. Re: 14 million assaults of women reported last year. Women grow up with this in a way that men don't.

I'm not endorsing a psychology of victimhood, or claiming that most men are dangerous. But just saying that women need to change their attitude is not enough: again, men at large need to change their behavior so that women don't have these fears going in.

And as for Cheryl Strayed: in the book at least she totally cops to her own behavior being the source of her problems.

Jack, I think you are right about a pack making a difference getting rides, especially when you're in a region where there's a lot of outdoor activity. I'm talking more about general hitch-hiking across the country.

And I hope I don't sound anti long hair and beard, I'm not. I just know what a lot of potential rides feel comfortable with. I've had many many squares pick me up who have said: "I've never picked up a hitch-hiker before, but you looked ok".

"… there's a basis in reality for the 'paranoid' view expressed in the quote above."

In 2013 there were about 20 murders by gun, and about 3,800 sexual assaults on men, per day. There are places in nearly every city where caution is warranted.

Those numbers might give anyone pause.
But they have never enter my mind when I think about backpacking alone.

Being male, I've not been taught to fear. Fortunately.

I am female, and I lived in a large city for most of my life (now I live in a smaller, but more high-crime one), so I feel that I have something to say about this topic.

Whatever your gender, life in a city means using good judgment about who to interact with, what parts of the city are safe to be in (at any given moment), and what your body language is saying about you. That's just common sense, and part of life.

Being out on the trail is no different, except that the hiking community is – somewhat – self segregating (most drug-addled, violent criminals will not find much of interest in the backcountry; whereas they find everything they need in cities). Most hikers are out there to enjoy nature, get away from urban stresses, and get some exercise (goals not terribly compatible with criminal intent).

If you read many of the solo-hiker PCT 2014 journals, the only "creepy guy" stories they tell are about one guy working at a hostel in a particular CA town.

When hiking alone, I am FAR more afraid of rattlesnakes than I am of my fellow hikers.

Cheryl Strayed's WHOLE book is about how she lacked common sense and had ZERO good judgment (about anything), so why we're giving her any credence about this subject is beyond me!

Buck said "Cheryl Strayed's greatest threat was her own bad judgment."
Amen to that, brotha!

I just came back from watching "Wild." I really enjoyed it (though I didn't like how they did the ending). One thing they made abundantly clear was that nearly every man she encountered was more or less looking for sex. I have no experience on the PCT, but seeing so many examples of how badly men behave in general – I can believe it.

I've lived in NYC for the last nine years. I work in the arts, and I'm around (and consequently get hit on by) a lot of gay men. At this point I've learned to deal with it, but it gave me a lot of insight as to how a woman must feel every time she walks into a bar. It's not fun, and it gets really uncomfortable when you're faced with some idiot who doesn't like to hear the word "no." So I can totally understand why a lot of women have a fear of men in-general.

"One thing they made abundantly clear was that nearly every man she encountered was more or less looking for sex."

… and you believe everything you see in the movies?

It's Entertainment. It needs "dramatic tension". It needs get you worried, and then laughing. The disfunction is a perfect platform for roller coaster emotions.

Fortunately most of the people you meet in the woods are a little better balanced.

"One thing they made abundantly clear was that nearly every man she encountered was more or less looking for sex."

and, what's your point?

have you seen nature shows where male sheep or bears or penguins or … battle each other to mate with females?

Wild isn't so much a backpacking movie

it would be fun to try to identify locations in Oregon and California