Solitary hikes. What you need to be able to

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

If you have finally confirmed your desire to go on an independent hike, then it would be nice to know what knowledge and skills you can use for this.

So, in the last article we tried to find out what solo hikes are and why you might need them at all. If, after reading the material, you have finally confirmed your desire to go on an independent trip, then it would be nice to know what knowledge and skills you can use for this. This is what we will discuss today.

So, first of all, you should clearly understand for yourself that camping life is significantly different from your usual everyday life and many skills that you perfectly master will not be useful to you at all, but you will need completely different ones. The situation is complicated many times over by the fact that on a solo trip you will have no one to ask for help or ask for advice. You have to rely only on your own strength, and any unlearned lesson can be quite painful to crawl out sideways.

The ability to equip yourself for the night, cook food, navigate the map are not some kind of secret knowledge hidden from humanity, but they have one important feature that I would like to emphasize as much as possible.

All the knowledge and skills you need must be obtained and tested in practical conditions before you start the route!

This means that you can read many thick books on survival, you can be considered the most savvy connoisseur on the local tourist forum, but until your knowledge is tested in the field, you cannot go on a solo trip! Otherwise, the same situation may turn out as with the hero of the movie "Into the Wild", who died due to the fact that he mixed up the pictures in the reference book of plants.

It turns out to be an amusing situation that you cannot go on a hike without experience, and experience can only be gained on a hike. There is only one correct conclusion from this: it is possible and necessary to start gaining experience only as part of a group. This is the only way to acquire all the necessary skills without risking your health and life. It is clear that for you, already tuned in to solitary wanderings through the mountains and thickets, it may not be so easy to force yourself to join a group of often complete strangers, who, moreover, are much more experienced and will teach you and, perhaps, (oh, gods !) even order! But you can't do without it, if, of course, you have a head on your shoulders.

Find groups that are on an interesting route and join them. Join a local tourist hangout. Look for experienced acquaintances or relatives who will take you with them.

And now, after we have figured out where and how you need to get the necessary survival skills, let's start listing them. So, for your first solo hike, you will need to know and be able to do the following.

• Selection of equipment, clothing and tools for the hike. The topic is extensive and includes many things, ranging from choosing a tent, a burner, a mug, a spoon, and ending with the selection of the optimal set of clothes. Remember that even such a trifle as a sole peeled off on the trail can become a very big nuisance during a hike!
• Collection and packing of things. It is not so difficult to assemble a backpack correctly, especially if you have already seen how to do it.
• Route development. Here you will need skills in working with a map, searching for reports from other tourists, the ability to correctly measure natural features and your strength.
• Parking and overnight equipment. Choosing the best place for parking, finding water, setting up a tent, protection from rain and cold.
• Making a fire. Do you think that gas or gasoline solves all problems? But what about the case when the cylinders are already empty or the matches are damp, and they forgot to take the lighter?
• Cooking. You can, of course, be content with regular porridge and sandwiches, but it is still advisable to learn how to cook soup, borsch, pilaf, stew, and so on.
• Safety precautions. In a solo hike, there will be no one to warn you against a rash step or a hasty decision, so you have to take care of this yourself. This must be done very meticulously, since any recklessness in a solo campaign can have extremely dangerous consequences.
• Navigation. One of the most important skills. If you went not just to wander, but want to get to a certain point along a specific route, then you will have to learn how to work with GPS (not a smartphone), paper maps, and a compass.
• Medicine. As a rule, this skill remains unclaimed, but if necessary, it is better to be fully armed. Collect a first-aid kit for the most common diseases and clearly know which pill is from the head and which is from the stomach.

Do you think this list is missing something? Make your additions in the comments. And in the next article we will talk about what specific things and equipment you need to prepare for a solo hike.