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Why I trip alone
- Thread starter Philtrum
- Start date
Because I like the company 
I rarely can find anyone to go paddling where I want, as far away as I want, when I want.
If I confined myself to organized group trips, I would paddle the same things, mostly close by, over and over and over again.
I like to play things by ear, extemporize, change my mind and direction. For any reason or no reason.
So I mostly paddle alone.
If I confined myself to organized group trips, I would paddle the same things, mostly close by, over and over and over again.
I like to play things by ear, extemporize, change my mind and direction. For any reason or no reason.
So I mostly paddle alone.
i once sat on a rock, beside a lake, in the summer, and read mary oliver's 'wild geese' cover to cover in one sitting...
my trips now are almost always solo, or once and a while, with one other person...groups don't excite me much these days
my trips now are almost always solo, or once and a while, with one other person...groups don't excite me much these days
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I don't do trips alone, but I'm often alone on trips.... I trip with my wife and daughter, usually with an other couple with kids... But often I will go for a walk, on my own to explore, cut some wood, or end up by myself in the canoe during the day and take off or stay back, so lots of time for reflexion, contemplation!!
G
Guest
Guest
I often trip alone.I find that with others along, I have difficulty not making their needs and wishes my priority. Solo enables me to be totally selfish and trulyy go and do what I want when I want. After a trip like this I am happier when going with a group.
Turtle
Turtle
I don't get enough solo's in lately. I really miss them. Someone always wants to come with me. I'm going to make time for a solo this summer, even if it's just three or four days. Solitude does wonders in refreshing one's ability to withstand the human race on a regular basis.
I do lots of day trips alone with just my Border Collie, and many 2 day trips. Those are the mental health days. For some reason middle aged friends all want to go on river trips. I have become very selective and no longer accommodate friends with little experience. It is too trying worrying about their safety and keeping everyone happy. I recruit for attitude, outdoors experience and people with good equipment. In my 60s we no longer do anything really difficult and dangerous. For the big trip this year in Oregon, it could be paddled by skilled people. We are taking rafts instead to make it more casual and to reduce the stress level.
A solo trip is very easy to plan. It is easy to execute, and you can change your itinerary any time. But there is something about sharing boat trips with people that is like giving them a gift. It all started in 1968 when I organized the Senior Class Canoe Trip for high school graduation. People still talk about that one.
Last year's canoe trip had some challenges, but the last night in camp we had Italian night. We carved out a room in a stand of cottonwoods in the shade and moved the kitchen in there. My two Italian friends made a classic dinner with red wine. It is the sharing of such an experience that makes it all worthwhile.
A solo trip is very easy to plan. It is easy to execute, and you can change your itinerary any time. But there is something about sharing boat trips with people that is like giving them a gift. It all started in 1968 when I organized the Senior Class Canoe Trip for high school graduation. People still talk about that one.
Last year's canoe trip had some challenges, but the last night in camp we had Italian night. We carved out a room in a stand of cottonwoods in the shade and moved the kitchen in there. My two Italian friends made a classic dinner with red wine. It is the sharing of such an experience that makes it all worthwhile.
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While I've never had the luxury of being able to get off for extended periods of time alone, I do have one day (sometimes two) that I look forward to each year. I work for another college's outdoor education program in the Adirondacks and for one day of each week I'm a "catcher" on the orienteering course. Essentially it's my job to herd students back in the right direction so they don't head off into a rather large swamp. If I'm lucky I'll rarely see anyone over the course of the entire day. Since I go back to the same location year after year I've become a bit attached to "my spot." By sitting quietly you can see and hear the woods opening up. I've had many wonderful opportunities to interact with deer, grouse and other small mammals and birds. Given time they'll come to investigate me so they're much more willing to come close to where I'm sitting. I also enjoy the yearly rainstorms that seem to accompany this day. First you can hear the thunder in the distance and before you know it the trees are swaying and all heck is breaking loose overhead; it's a tremendous joy to experience. All to quickly it's over and the only thing you can hear is the raindrops falling off the edges of the tarp as the storm moves on. While I know this is just a short interlude in my year, it's one I anticipate like most kids do Christmas or a birthday. It's truly a gift.
That's all for now. Take care and until next time...be well.
snapper
That's all for now. Take care and until next time...be well.
snapper
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I like to go with family. I get a big thrill out of watching my 7 yr old discovering new things about herself and getting excited over bugs, critters, and wildflowers. Someday she'll be off doing what grown people do and I'll be missing her in the canoe. That said, I do love the early mornings when the family is snoozing - I have the outdoors to myself for a few precious hours.
This...
NOW.... That said, I do enjoy trips with my wife and friends or even folks I haven't met. But they are different type trips than i'm inclined to or prefer in general.
While my wife does occasionally go with me, the reality of our lives is that she is still gainfully employed. Being retired for years now, I have to choose to go solo or rarely go. So I solo.
Truth be told there is also a good portion of why I solo in what is said in posts above as well.
Things such as; my interests in backpacking and canoeing are more about the trips that are less desirable to the wife and friends. A need to just go with the Zen of the trip vs balance it against the "plan."
Also as someone else said I am inclined to worry that my wife (friends etc) are happy, safe, comfortable and that distracts my ability to fully embrace the trip.
To be fair to both wife and friends they are all eminently capable people and my wife is no wimp when it comes to these activities, so the issue is really my own. Not a requirement of the others.
There's a different mind set requirement for each trip. Each has it's own joy.
"So I mostly paddle alone." I enjoy both for what they are but I truly embrace the solo trips.
I haven't gotten to trip alone due both the wife's concern for my safety and also to living in southern Ohio where it's a long way from anywhere I would want to trip anyway. About 25 years ago, I bought my first solo canoe because it was too difficult to find people to canoe with locally. This has allowed me to get out alone at least 3-4 times a week at our local lakes. I have gone to Canada annually on week long trips with groups between 2 and 7 people, and have found that I really prefer to take my solo canoe because it gives me a sense of freedom and solitude. I can set my own pace, be alone or with company while paddling, and I can maintain a sense of control over my environment.
That being said, I do dream of doing at least parts of the Northern Forrest canoe Trail on a solo trip. I expect to fully retire this year, so I target next year for the big solo adventure. It's interesting to look back and realize that the only time I ever spent more than 2-3 days alone was on a week-long motorcycle camping trip through New England back in '78. Where did the time go? Thinking about this makes the NFCT trip more important.
Erik
That being said, I do dream of doing at least parts of the Northern Forrest canoe Trail on a solo trip. I expect to fully retire this year, so I target next year for the big solo adventure. It's interesting to look back and realize that the only time I ever spent more than 2-3 days alone was on a week-long motorcycle camping trip through New England back in '78. Where did the time go? Thinking about this makes the NFCT trip more important.
Erik
It became hard for me to plan trips with others due to family and work commitments. The more last minute solo trips I took the better I liked it and it became the norm.
Nowadays it's just the family commitments that concern me as to when or where I go. I had a solo trip planned for sometime in May, but I'm helping my newly retired wife with a last minute grandchildren babysitting commitment till the end of the school year....life happens and the trip got canceled. Had it been a group trip, there could have been problems explaining my priorities and I would have felt like I let others down.
Although I prefer to go alone these days, I signed up for the Marshall lake trip this August for a few reasons, mostly because they are some very friendly Canadians tripping in one of the best places I know of, sort of a win win situation, I consider myself lucky to tag along.
Nowadays it's just the family commitments that concern me as to when or where I go. I had a solo trip planned for sometime in May, but I'm helping my newly retired wife with a last minute grandchildren babysitting commitment till the end of the school year....life happens and the trip got canceled. Had it been a group trip, there could have been problems explaining my priorities and I would have felt like I let others down.
Although I prefer to go alone these days, I signed up for the Marshall lake trip this August for a few reasons, mostly because they are some very friendly Canadians tripping in one of the best places I know of, sort of a win win situation, I consider myself lucky to tag along.
David Curran in Canoe Trip: Alone In The Maine Wilderness expresses something similar to Oliver:
"I prefer to go alone.
I always feel that I come up short in saying why.
I know that I like the simplicity of it.
Planning alone is at least twice as easy as planning
with another. I know that my focus on the experience
is much better, more pure.
I am not distracted by conversation or the expectation
of conversation. I am not wondering if my partner is tired
or if my pace is sufficient or if he wants a meal or to camp or
where to camp or when to start or when to stop or whether
to come in out of the wind or rain.
Instead, there is only me to think of these things, me with
the experience of it with nothing in between.
And...its the tight focus on the experience that I go for
and from which the best memories come."
I go alone most of the time. Curran says it better than I ever could...why.
"I prefer to go alone.
I always feel that I come up short in saying why.
I know that I like the simplicity of it.
Planning alone is at least twice as easy as planning
with another. I know that my focus on the experience
is much better, more pure.
I am not distracted by conversation or the expectation
of conversation. I am not wondering if my partner is tired
or if my pace is sufficient or if he wants a meal or to camp or
where to camp or when to start or when to stop or whether
to come in out of the wind or rain.
Instead, there is only me to think of these things, me with
the experience of it with nothing in between.
And...its the tight focus on the experience that I go for
and from which the best memories come."
I go alone most of the time. Curran says it better than I ever could...why.
I mostly trip alone. It is nice not to feel responsible for other peoples safety. Free to eat, move, sleep wake, change plans when I want. I like the solitude. Dave
Like Mama I love to take kids to the woods and open their eyes. This year's Allagash trip may have 3 teen age girls who have little experience in the woods, one of whom is may granddaughter who has wrecked three vacations so far, and I looking forward to it.
Having said THAT, back in the late 60's I read an article in Field & Stream about hiking alone. I spent much of the 70's-early 2000'inzes hiking all over the Whites of NH and the rest of the mountains in New England alone. Canoeing solo adds security risks but I learned enough from solo hiking to manage them. I plan to do a lot more solo canoeing then in a group in the future.
Having said THAT, back in the late 60's I read an article in Field & Stream about hiking alone. I spent much of the 70's-early 2000'inzes hiking all over the Whites of NH and the rest of the mountains in New England alone. Canoeing solo adds security risks but I learned enough from solo hiking to manage them. I plan to do a lot more solo canoeing then in a group in the future.
Haven't done any real solo tripping, but I do day paddle alone. Mostly lakes, as the local river has a... reputation... A lot of the things said here resonate for me. I get to see the stuff everyone else misses, and that I would probably miss in a group.
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I go solo when I have to but I would much rather have company. First, it shares the work...lol. Mostly though I want to be able to share the experience with another person. To bring to them the same joy that I get from being there. Who would not want to do that for someone you like.
Karin and I have been tripping together for about 7 years come this summer. I can't imagine not having her along. I should solo more to disconnect from that feeling. Anything more than a couple of days without her though renders me inconsolably sad and takes the enjoyment out of being there. So I dont go as much as I could. Since she does not solo and depends on me to make her trips possible, I feel selfish if I dont have her there.
I have a good amount of time off this year so I was hoping to get a few other friends to go for day trips and change it up for me a bit. But if I have my choice I know who I would rather have along.
Christy
Karin and I have been tripping together for about 7 years come this summer. I can't imagine not having her along. I should solo more to disconnect from that feeling. Anything more than a couple of days without her though renders me inconsolably sad and takes the enjoyment out of being there. So I dont go as much as I could. Since she does not solo and depends on me to make her trips possible, I feel selfish if I dont have her there.
I have a good amount of time off this year so I was hoping to get a few other friends to go for day trips and change it up for me a bit. But if I have my choice I know who I would rather have along.
Christy
I used to solo for all the reasons that people who solo here have listed.
Now I feel like Christy. If it were not for another person ( my deaf and not talkative hubby) I would not be tripping at all. I need him as he needs me. I could not have packed for next month without him.. I want to share some rivers I have seen and allow him the same experience.
At this point I would not be able to solo anyway. Portage trips are out.. Someones got to load the wheelchair in the canoe ( no stamina bone marrow is on vacation)
I am done with chemo but please folks do all the right things and do not play ostrich is something feels amiss. 4.5 months of chemo takes at least as long to recover from if not years. I won't be back to "normal" perhaps ever.
And I am grateful that there is someone else in my life that likes canoeing and is willing to do most of the work. I'll document..ie. I will play bow ornament and take pictures.
Later on comes play back with my FreeStyle buds and regaining my balance with their help( they are not here but have been super helpful so far). Maybe then I can be trusted in a solo in gnarly weather. ( you ought to see me trying to ride a bike..)
Going to Newfoundland for kayaking in August so I have some paddling goal to try to attain. In my old age experiences of being out there are more important than how I do it. I don't regard a canoe route as something to be conquered but rather something to be savored.
And with limited on land mobility you are more likely to see me on the ocean or a big lake without portages and gasp with a double blade and a yak.
Now really does it matter how you are outside? Or in what?
We got a free Penobscot 16 and did a little restoration.. 58 lbs and the NOB is butt ugly ( been wrapped and most of the letters are gone). Who cares?
Now I feel like Christy. If it were not for another person ( my deaf and not talkative hubby) I would not be tripping at all. I need him as he needs me. I could not have packed for next month without him.. I want to share some rivers I have seen and allow him the same experience.
At this point I would not be able to solo anyway. Portage trips are out.. Someones got to load the wheelchair in the canoe ( no stamina bone marrow is on vacation)
I am done with chemo but please folks do all the right things and do not play ostrich is something feels amiss. 4.5 months of chemo takes at least as long to recover from if not years. I won't be back to "normal" perhaps ever.
And I am grateful that there is someone else in my life that likes canoeing and is willing to do most of the work. I'll document..ie. I will play bow ornament and take pictures.
Later on comes play back with my FreeStyle buds and regaining my balance with their help( they are not here but have been super helpful so far). Maybe then I can be trusted in a solo in gnarly weather. ( you ought to see me trying to ride a bike..)
Going to Newfoundland for kayaking in August so I have some paddling goal to try to attain. In my old age experiences of being out there are more important than how I do it. I don't regard a canoe route as something to be conquered but rather something to be savored.
And with limited on land mobility you are more likely to see me on the ocean or a big lake without portages and gasp with a double blade and a yak.
Now really does it matter how you are outside? Or in what?
We got a free Penobscot 16 and did a little restoration.. 58 lbs and the NOB is butt ugly ( been wrapped and most of the letters are gone). Who cares?
Christy, the ones I would like to share the experience with are either very busy living their own lives now (married with kids), or don't enjoy canoeing. I sat home a few seasons till I decided to try solo tripping. In my opinion solo tripping is a completely different experience that is impossible to share. Adding one person completely changes the dynamics of the whole trip for me. I would trip with my loved ones again if given the opportunity, but it wouldn't be anything like a solo trip to the same spot. Dave
