Tips for solo backpacking

[Nick]

You know my rule: just don't fall.

Clearly it's those wild animals we must be afraid of. I might have to step up my game a bit...

 

[rundrumkc]

Well, since Nick has shown us what his next REI purchase might be and since some have mentioned that they choose to carry while in the backcountry you all might want to check all local gun laws. I learned last week while taking a CONCEAL CARRY CLASS that it is against the law to carry a gun (open or concealed) while on an Indian reservation and even if you have a CCW permit it is still against the reservation laws and if you are seen carrying by the wrong person you could be arrested and charged with a felony and it would cost more to get your firearm back than what it is worth. After looking at my map I noticed that the Uintah and Ouray Res. covers most of the High Uintas. I was planning on carrying while hiking the Highline solo but now I'm thinking differently. I checked out the reservations website and it appears that it is against there laws to have a weapon while on their land. If I am wrong or if anyone has more to add, please do.

 

[Aldaron]

I think the old USGS maps show much of the High Uintas Wilderness as being on the Indian Reservation, but I think that's outdated. You should check with the Ranger Station, but I'm almost 100% positive that the Wilderness is all Forest Service land.

That notwithstanding, a gun is heavy on the trail

 

[Udink]

you all might want to check all local gun laws

Check this map: http://www.uteed.net/files/utmap.pdf; the pink area is the Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation. The big green area north of that is the Uintas--all National Forest lands. You're also good to go on any public road in Utah, so accessing the Uintas while carrying when passing through tribal lands is legal.

 

[rundrumkc]

Thanks for clarifying on that. I'm already liking the idea of not carrying because of the extra weight. My XD-9 with a 16 round clip is over 2lbs. I carried it when my wife and I hiked up to Devil's Thumb near Winterpark Co. and I only did so because they had a record number of black bears that year and one hunter took one that was around 600lbs. It made the wife feel better to have it as a back up to bear spray.
One of my coworkers that grew up in and around Utah and is a very experienced hiker told me that I should file the sights off of my handgun because it will really hurt when the bear shoves it up my backside and it will hurt even more when I have to pull it out.

 

[Laura]

One of my coworkers that grew up in and around Utah and is a very experienced hiker told me that I should file the sights off of my handgun because it will really hurt when the bear shoves it up my backside and it will hurt even more when I have to pull it out.

 

[Bob]

Thanks for clarifying on that. I'm already liking the idea of not carrying because of the extra weight. My XD-9 with a 16 round clip is over 2lbs. I carried it when my wife and I hiked up to Devil's Thumb near Winterpark Co. and I only did so because they had a record number of black bears that year and one hunter took one that was around 600lbs. It made the wife feel better to have it as a back up to bear spray.
One of my coworkers that grew up in and around Utah and is a very experienced hiker told me that I should file the sights off of my handgun because it will really hurt when the bear shoves it up my backside and it will hurt even more when I have to pull it out.

People think guns are the solution to a bear attack. Bear Spray people, bear spray is what you carry.....way better than a gun, proven. Add a mini air horn to that as well. With a gun you better be a crack shot AND something of very large caliber, or like you said it will hurt pulling it out because of the gunsights. http://www.bearsmart.com/becoming-bear-smart/home/bear-deterrents/bear-spray

 

[Hurakan]

Spray keeps them away. Once you piss off the bear or it thinks your an easy meal, its going to be bad. After that the one who isnt getting attacked beats on it, blasts it, whatever. Surprising how often people will just stand by and watch when things go bad and not help. Not a bad idea to have a talk with your hiking partner about that.

I have ran into bears in Alaska and never once had a problem or knew anyone that had. More likely to die hitting a moose at night driving.

 

[TannerT]

I've run into bears everywhere as well and believe that if you are paying attention, recognize that you're in bear country, and act accordingly you should have any problems. Spray is the best bet if you carry anything.

I had a friend say that he wants to carry a gun in the backcountry to protect himself from other people. He was worried about theft more than anything. Rule #1 about thievery: Thieves are lazy!!! You think that they'll want to steal your stuff, and then pack it out?!?!?! Make sure your care is locked, that's where they'll strike.

Guns are not necessary in the backcountry....unless you're in Alaska, then pack one with you everywhere. You need protection from large bears, and crazy people. Trust me, crazy people. Let me say it again, crazy people. Mainly in the little towns but still crazy. A brother-in-law that lives in Valdez has had to show his a few times because of transient crazies.

More often than not our biggest danger, other than our own ego, in the backcountry is moose.

 

[Nick]

Well said @TannerT. I really think moose are possibly the most unpredictable and underestimated animals out there.

 

[Hurakan]

Spent a week in Valdez Heli Boarding, lucky Brother in law too live there. Pretty in the summer too. Ya, lots of moose in AK and sometimes there's some grumpy ones. About guns, you just never know what or who you might run into. Personal choice and one I doubt I'd ever need.

 

[andyjaggy]

I'm going to resurrect this thread since it's something I have been thinking a lot about lately. I have hiked solo quite a bit but have yet to work up the nerve to do a backpacking trip by myself. For the most part I don't mind hiking alone, but like Nick said once it gets dark it gets very easy to spook yourself out. I've done quite a few solo hikes where I have started before sunrise, walking alone in the dark up a trail with a headlamp and suddenly seeing two glowing eyes staring at you in the trees sends chills down your spine.

I'll have to point my wife to this thread so she can see I'm not totally insane for wanting to go backpacking alone, lots of people do it and most of them come back alive.

My goal is to do at least a quick overnighter by myself this year, I am thinking something in a heavily used area like Ruby lake off the Mirror Lake highway might be a good starting point to test the waters.

 

[DAA]

I haven't backpacked alone yet. But I car camp alone a lot. Somewhere between 25-40 nights a year, for the past 30+ years. It's just like camping with other people. Except without the other people.

- DAA

 

[mathew]

I have only done a few solo trips, the first time with no protection of any sort. When I woke the next morning after a rather uncomfortable sleep I found bear tracks within 20 yards of my camp. I wasnt stupid about my camp and was aware there were bear in the area but I had never actually seen one so figured they were uncommon. After that I do carry a pistol as well as bear spray, I would rather not have to shoot they thing cause i really dont want to have to pack it out for fish and game (as far as i know you are required to pack out any animal you kill in self defense as well as show a game warden where it happened). I still dont worry much about bear I worry more about wolves (idaho, wyoming, montana) and people. I know the pistol hanging on the waist belt has deterred at least one person from doing something dumber than he already did. I was backpacking with my brother in idaho when these two guys came along being rather obnoxious "drunk" and starting yelling about some one setting up in their spot. My brother and I were a few hundred yards away at this point. When we came up on them they were tearing down our camp and when confronted they both got pretty obnoxious yelling all sorts of crap about it being their spot and we needed to leave. after several moments of a very heated discussion one of them noticed that we both were carrying a 44 mag and told his obnoxious buddy to shut up or he was going to get shot. After some more slightly less heated discussion they continued on their way, and my brother and I decided to find a new area to set up base camp just in case. People will do the dumbest things when they think no one is around so I don't trust not having something.

 

[Howells Outdoors]

maybe this year I'll try to sleep a few times without tent, but somehow I'm scared of creepy spiders that could crawl over my face while asleep.
For that reason I use the mesh part of my tent without the fly, it gives me a little bit of security in that hostile outdoor environment

Hahahaha....bear? humans? lions? No big deal for Yvonne. Spiders though.

 

[steve]

maybe this year I'll try to sleep a few times without tent, but somehow I'm scared of creepy spiders that could crawl over my face while asleep.
For that reason I use the mesh part of my tent without the fly, it gives me a little bit of security in that hostile outdoor environment

the spiders crawling on my face help me fall asleep.


You could always try a mosquito net over your face. I get less scared when i sleep outside a tent. The tent obscures what's really out there, and the unknown is far scarier than the known.

 

[pstm13]

I like the idea of the Meet Up section on the site. My family prefers that I go with someone but does not always want to be that someone. I may just try one during the summer or schedule my own. I would probably want to meet prior to a trip though.

 

[steve]

I would definitely get lonely on a solo trip, but I also see the appeal of not having to twist anyone's arm to get you to go with them. I can't count the number of trips I've cancelled because my trip-mates' plans changed and I didn't want to go alone.

 

[DAA]

I'm with Miss Buffalo on this one. Gimme something to keep the creepy crawlies off, thank you very much!

I don't mind no tent when I'm off the ground - like on a cot. That's all good.

But just on a pad or groundsheet, no thanks... Have had only a few unpleasant experiences that way. Like the time I found a scorpion in my sleeping bag (he didn't bite...). And the time I woke up with more than a dozen big red bumpy splotches all over where something had been chewing on me through the night and I felt like i had the flu for about 24 hours.

That stuff by itself would be enough to make me prefer some sort of tent - with a floor, rather than sleeping out on the ground.

I do realize stuff like that can get in and nibble on you inside a tent too, and I've had that pleasure as well.

But sleeping out on the ground, I have been freaked out enough a couple times that Homey just don't like to play that game anymore. LIke being woke up in the middle of the night by the sound of a giant runny cow shit hitting the ground three feet from my face.

One of the freakiest freakouts wasn't a creepy crawly. But a critter bigger than a breadbox but smaller than a bear. Woke up to findd it standing on my chest one night. Whatever that little effer was (I never found out), he wouldn't have been tip toeing up my torso if I'd been in even a mesh tent.

Guess we all have our issues .

- DAA

 

[steve]

I never thought about a tent making it less likely for me to get stepped on by a cow or deer or moose. Granted, they can all squash you through a tent, but at least they'd see the big tent, where they may not see me sleeping on the ground in a bivy.