Re: Female Solo Backpacker

HI Mandy,
First let me say that I applaud your courage and stick-to-it-if-ness! As a 56 year old hiker with medical hindrances, I now can only use a base camp and day 1/2 hike (1/2 in and 1/2 out). I am a retired NYC EMS Paramedic with 27 years of experience. The reason I am mentioning this is that solo hiking has a danger that no one has touched upon in their replies. When I was a medic I worked some of the worst areas in NYC. BUT, there were always two of us. I say this because we supported each other. And we were the unspoken safety net for each other. Going into a abandoned building is much like walking alone in the woods. Its the unknown.

Sorry for being wordy. What no one has mentioned is what if you got hurt. Nothing major just a bad sprain. What if the bad sprain got ugly and hampered your walking or carrying a pack?
God forbid you slipped / fell and you were completely unable to walk. Remember the abandoned building I talked about earlier? Its the same thing. You are in a familiar environment ( a house ) in your case a forest, but you don’t have a buddy to say "what do you think we should do".
Remember it's not so much the solo hiking that’s dangerous, but the lack of a support mechanism that’s dangerous.
All the planning, first aid kits, and fancy stoves that some hikers carry wont get them out of the forest if their injured.
As a backpacker I started out with a canvas tent, candle lantern, and a metal canteen, but nothing was more supportive that my hiking buddy. I just fear that you or myself for that matter might get into a jam where we need a helping hand. It could be as simple as a voice from another tent saying "go to sleep it's only a raccoon". But that voice is there.
Living in Staten Island, New York, that last thing that people here have on there mind is leaving their Lexus or Mercedes and going into the woods with a shovel and a roll of toilet paper. So I haven’t got a hiking buddy either.
In your heart keep the love of the outdoors alive. Let it embrace you.

But there is no shame in cabin hiking or using a pop up as a base camp and day hiking. Heck I have base camped and did several mini hikes and saw something different each time during my outings.
We all have our dreams but these dreams must be attained with some fore thought that will enable us to go out there and hike another day.
I have found it is better to modify my love for the outdoors than to have that dream taken away.
Please keep going out there but be thoughtful of what you might need to go hiking again and again.
Thank you for reading this.
V.A.L.