solo hiking

[RichardM]

They will also take an imprint of your boot tread.

Serious?

What about a sample of DNA to aid in remains identification?   :lol:

Makes tracking a lot easier if you know what their bootprints look like.  They'll start asking for DNA samples as soon as they get their new tricorders. :)

[BIBE Webmaster]

An overview of Solo Hiker procedures and a PDF version of the form (so you over-achievers can fill it out at home) is available here on the park's official website.

As a park ranger, I cannot understate how helpful this form can be. While we can't make you fill it out, it may make the difference between life and death.

Eric

[Undertaker]

While I tend to do almost everything solo now that all kids or away from home, I still try not to be stupid about going solo. Trip Plan, water and knowledge of compass and map is smart. If you are stupid about going solo and hiking in the wild, then you will personally be "Thining the Herd" 8)  8)

[homerboy2u]

You are so right : UT.  To go alone in the desert where i am dependant on myself..in the midle of nowhere. That is just a NO go.

[Casa Grande]

An overview of Solo Hiker procedures and a PDF version of the form (so you over-achievers can fill it out at home) is available here on the park's official website.

As a park ranger, I cannot understate how helpful this form can be. While we can't make you fill it out, it may make the difference between life and death.

Eric

this is really great. I've never heard of this service as well. It is a fantastic idea and I'll plan on using it if I ever decide to go solo again....not a real fan of solo hiking but I like to wander away from the pack from time to time to get away from the chatter  :lol:

[TexasGirl]

Wow.  I knew about the solo hiker form, but to be redundant, that is extremely thorough.  A very nice service, indeed.  I imagine filling out that form has given pause to more than one person.

[mountaindocdanny]

Most of my trips into the Bend are solo. It reasures my wife for me to fill out the solo hiker form, so I appreciate this service as well.

Additionally, I frequently head out for 2-3 day backpakcing trips with only my 1 and 3 year olds, which I consider to be much more difficult than solo trips. However, we usually stay away from the Bend as I am much more interested in having available groundwater. With one in the pack, our overnight gear, and one often riding on my shoulders the idea of carrying 15-20 lbs of water is not something I relish. I once took my oldest (1 1/2 at the time) into GUMO on an overnighter in June. My pack weight between him and all of our gear and water was 85 lbs. I weigh in at 155. By the time we made it to the Mescalero site I was worried that I would not make it out the next day. Fortunately my muscles recovered and we had a great walk out the following day. However, since then I have not taken them anywhere that we needed to pack in all of our water.

[Vince T]

It was enough to make one go solo for life!

I have had that happen to me once too...it was the first time EVER that I cut my trip early to get home.  Going to BIBE with the wrong person is like a nagging tooth-ache, except add to it a head-ache and gastrointestinal difficulties.

Vince

[TexasGirl]

Going to BIBE with the wrong person is like a nagging tooth-ache

Traveling anywhere with the wrong person can be bad, but I imagine at Bibe it would indeed be worse.  (So I'm doubly thankful that we had a good trip together this summer!)

[The Trout Whisperer]

There are risks associated with hiking/backpacking in the desert as well as the mountains even when you're with others.

Being alone takes the risk up quite a few notches if an accident should happen.  Nice to know about the solo hikers form.

I love sharing the wilderness experience with others, but if I had to go it alone in Big Bend I would.  It just wouldn't be as adventureous as going with others.

All this talk of the area is making me go thru Big bend withdrawls again....Christmas time hurry up and get here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[presidio]

For those who desire whatever combination of physical/psychological/spiritual/emotional experience that only the unique solitude of the wilderness can afford, the risks of solo hiking are well within the realm of acceptable.

You still may be bitten by a snake, have a rock fall on your head or get struck by lightning.  But you will know in your heart, that you were still safer than on the road to get there! ;-)

He was twenty miles from the trailhead, by himself.  He was 86 years old.  I was 24.  

A friend finally talked him into going on a backpacking trip, the first time he had really done anything since his wife had died.

Finally I came to realize that he would be the blessed one.  What if each of us could live life fully, until we die, doing that which we love, finding peace, God, fulfillment, whatever it is that we seek, to our very last day?

Perhaps it was so for a seventy-one year-old man in BIBE this week.  Perhaps he could have savored many more desert hikes for many more years, with just the slightest of forethought.  We will never know.  We can only pray peace upon those who were his friends and family and those who worked on the rescue, and be as prepared as we can when we venture into the wilderness.

Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) in the Shawshank Redemption: 'Get busy living or get busy dying'.

These guys noted above were doing exactly that, in exactly the correct order. It is soo much better to 'do' than simply to 'be'.

[oldfatman]

The reason I dayhike solo is if I wait for a partner then I never get to go. I would rather die on a trail than in a rocking chair. However 30+ years of solo hiking has been safely done with the extra precautions a person alone has to take. For example I turn around when the amount of water I have left is 2/3 of what I started with.  I always allow for twice as much time to get back from the destination than it took to get there. Is this stuff excessive?? Not for a solo hiker if you like living.

[Desertwalker]

The reason I dayhike solo is if I wait for a partner then I never get to go.

I hear that! I try to go monthly from October thru February, but if I waited to coordinate something with a hiking partner. It probably would not happen but once or twice a year if I was lucky. I need my Big Bend fix more than once or twice a yr., otherwise, I'm not a happy person.

[lighter fluid]

An overview of Solo Hiker procedures and a PDF version of the form (so you over-achievers can fill it out at home) is available here on the park's official website.

As a park ranger, I cannot understate how helpful this form can be. While we can't make you fill it out, it may make the difference between life and death.

Eric

There is a chance I will be on hiking Mesa De Anguila solo in April.
My hiking partner for the trip may not be able to make it.
If I do, I will definitely fill out the Solo Hiker form.
Thanks for the link, Eric.

[dkerr24]

All of my solo hikes so far have been in the Grand Canyon.  The majority of the trails there are so busy that you are never alone for long.  Even on the lightly travelled Clear Creek trail I met hikers going both eastbound and westbound on that trail.

Not so sure I'd attempt a lengthy 2-3 day solo hike in BIBE, especially the OML with no dependable water sources.

Like several have said in this thread, hiking alone does make you more aware of the risks you are taking, even doing some of the simplest tasks.  When alone, your mind begins to over-emphasize details, even to the point of mild panic if something unexpected happens.

I definitely was a bit more relaxed hiking with a partner, and of course you can pass the time talking and telling jokes which can make a long day's hike seem less tiring.