Is solitary adventure therapeutic?

golok

golok

Joined
Oct 20, 2000
Messages
4,453
I have friends who love nothing than to be alone in the forest, jungle or just some off-the-beaten track.

They tell me that there is nothing so refreshing for the body, mind and soul to be alone in the outback, or deep in the jungle.

There is a kind of tranquillity that transcends explanation. A serenity the defies written explanation. It is an experience that must be felt because no words can adequately describe it.

Personally, I haven't been on such an adventure. So I wish to solicit the views of those who have been on such trips regularly.

Sometimes, we mistakenly called such people "loners". I think there is something deeper and richer in these journeys into the interior.

Who can tell?

------------------
Make Love your strongest weapon. Compassion your shield and forgiveness your armour.
 
Where better to forget your troubles or troubled times? Where better to think or remember days gone by? Where better to commune with ancestors or your God?

I find great solice in every excursion, regardless of duration or the experience.

There's nothing quite so peaceful as really hearing the wind whoosh through some pines, or the noise squirrels make when they're chasing each other through the woods, or the lonely howl of a coyote or wolf. There's nothing as majestic as the sight or an eagle in flight, or the sudden silent appearance of a huge whitetail buck.

There's little that overpowers the feeling of success when you master a skill or find some wealth of food in that environment, and then knowing you really can make it out here.

Suck treks for me are my communion with myself, my heritage, my ancestors, and my God. A soul cleansing, if you will.

Mike



------------------
It's not the pace of life that concerns me, It's the sudden stop at the end.
 
The next video we shoot (starting June 1- 15th) will show a two week solo survival adventure. I will take no food and only a blanket,tarp, knives and ferrocerium rod for this.

Because we are filming there will be a crew consisting of my wife, Radio Ray, and Brian Jones. The crew will camp at least 100 yards away.

Though I won't be really "Alone" the idea is to show folks how to solo and the reason for that is the quality of the experience the solo adventure provides. As has been mentioned there is a spiritual and personal awakening that takes place during these trips. It is a time for a person to get used to the noise of their own thoughts and then to learn to shut down the noise and create some genuine peace.

Although I've soloed for a week at a time a dozen times, I once spent nearly a month soloing in the Sierra of California and I can still drift back into the memories of that time. I also did two weeks alone in the Cordillera of Chile (Andes) and it was an astonishing time for self discovery.

The downside (maybe it is the upside) is that you are totally dependent on your skills and ability to stay out of trouble. If there is a problem... It is yours alone to deal with. There are dangers.

Over the years I've learned that while soloing, the biggest killer is the sense of invincability that grows on you. This can lead you to take chances and that is where you get into trouble.

The final thought is journalling. We always recommend that folks bring a steno pad to journal their experience. The process helps to order the thoughts, record the experience and provide new insights into the self.

I recommend the solo experience IF you are an experienced outdoorsperson.

Ron

------------------
Learn Life Extension at:

http://www.survival.com ]
 
The longest I have been camping by myself was one month. I was going through a very stressful time in my life, and I went to the woods to heal. It is the most therapeutic experience I have ever found. The last week loneliness became a terrible problem, though.

I work at home, so have more flexibility than most people. When the pressures and demands get to me, I often take off for weekend or 3-day trips. Four or 5 times a year, my husband takes a week off and we go out together.

With me, the short trips are refreshing and I come back feeling "new." But it takes longer if you have some real problems you need to work through. Two weeks will usually cure anything!
smile.gif

 
There are different degrees of being alone. Unlike Ron, I've never been in the furthest most remote places in the world, where I would really take his advice to heart and just plain not go alone if I didn't know what I was doing (which too often I don't). The same applies to my limited experiences in extreme seasons. I've camped in the deep winter on a few occasions, but always with others.

Still I've gone out alone plenty too, but always in the milder parts of the year, and always to places (just becuase that's where I happend to be), like national parks and forests where, while I was traveling alone, I would always see people here and there along the trail.

These experiences can be just as refreshing personally provided that the places you go are not so crowded that you can not find places to camp alone. This is very difficult to do (for example) in most national parks because you are forced to camp only in certain designated spots, and unless you are in the most remote (read furthest from road, highest in altitude) parts of the park there are always going to be some others near by. In general, and here in Calif. that is why I much prefer national forest land.
 
Matthew, I don't know about other places in the country, but here in the southeast, anyone can go anywhere into a National Forest and primitive camp without permission, providing it is not a designated wilderness management area. Some restrictions may apply during hunting season. And sometimes there are bans on open fires depending on the drought situation.

I have been out for days at a time without seeing another person. The secret is getting a good distance off the trails.

I just learned that last year. It's not something that is widely publicized.
 
...edited to add that yes, there are forest service roads, but many of them are closed to vehicular traffic. I could see people if I wanted to, but I deliberately choose to create my own solo wilderness experiences.
 
All adventure is therapudic, imo. There are times when solitary adventure is just what the doctor ordered. At other times, company fits the bill.
 
My solo experiences have caused me to reevaluate some of the most common paradigms we have. For example, I found that I only ate when I was hungry, and I ate the food that best met my physical needs. I found out that modesty is relative to your situation. I realized that when we become a middle link in the food chain, as opposed to always being at the top, that awareness of life is heightened. I also discovered that I talk to myself an awful lot for awhile, then I start to accept the silence.

And when I return home I find that I look at everything through different eyes. After my first solo trip I had no desire for junk food for at least a month, as it seemed so unnecessary and useless. Outside felt more like home than inside.

I can go on and on, but I had better not.

Just do it.
smile.gif


------------------
Camine con tranquilidad, sirva con humildad, y viva en paz.
 
During a couple weeks alone on a river in the Yukon, I found that I saw a LOT more wildlife than when I have been in groups. I went down the same river a few years earlier in a group, so I know that's true. The noise and scent of a group will run off a lot of animals.

My favorite experiences were with a mink that thought any fish I caught really belonged to him. He acted like he wanted to take my first fish by force. After I finished filleting it and threw him the carcass (with plenty to eat left on it), he immediately came back and acted like he was going to take my second fish. Amazing courage for a little guy that weighed a pound or two!

DPD.
 
Interesting thread! I've hunted and motorcycled alone in the woods, although I prefer to go with someone -- especially my sons, but I have gone out alone.

I hate to be the one to bring up the safety side (Ron did also) but it can be dangerous out there. I'm not talking running out of food or needing shelter but two things: (1) mountain lions and bears -- Oh My!, and (2) falls. Depending on where you are you may run the risk of a chance encounter with a big cat or bear. You need to be prepared for this possibility with whatever you choose (pepper spray, gun, knife, noise etc.) but just when you think it will never happen to you ...... The other issue is falls. A local minister here in Idaho went out for a couple of weeks every year hiking in the mountains with his dog. A couple of years ago he didn't show up at the meeting site to be picked up by his wife. An extensive, thorough hunt revealed nothing until his dog was found about 20 miles away from where he said he would be hiking. Additional searching found him. He had fallen off a trail, wedged his leg between two boulders, and subsequently "equilibrated to ambient temperature." It appeared that he was alive for some number of days in that position and had he had another human with him, he could have been extracted.

I know we can't prepare for all possiblities but just knowing that there are many we don't think about may help our awareness.

Bruce
 
I rarely hike with others on extended trips. My longest backpacking trip was three weeks and one time I lived out of a backpack for 6 months, two other times, 3 months. These were trips that combined backpacking, hitchhiking and hopping freight trains. I've also made quite a few extended canoe trips. Every time I leave a wilderness area after a trip, I've always regretted it. Many times I've been with others who couldn't wait to get back. That's why I prefer hiking alone.

For many, the wilderness is a foreign experience. Actually, it doesn't have to be wilderness, it can just be woodlands. In one city park I used to work in as a naturalist, we would take the kids into the heart of the woods and have them close their eyes and listen. What do you hear?, we would ask. Invariably, the kids that came from the city schools would say they hear a squirrel or a bird. The kids from the country usually heard the same thing: the noise of the traffic from the busy road a mile away.

When I go into the wilderness, it's that background noise called civilization that I want to lose.

------------------
Hoodoo

I get some pleasure from finding a relentlessly peaceful use for a combative looking knife.
JKM
 
I agree with bruce on the bears. I used to do a lot of solo hiking and camping in the "Bob". I once set up camp and was about to pack it in, when I got that prickly feeling on my neck. I sat up most of the night with my GP-100 in my lap. Next day, I see all the grizly tracks. Ever had one of those all-over uncontrollable shivers?
I love to tell that story.
I once had three mt.goats walk into my camp. I sat there and watched them graze. They acted like I was part of the scenery.
I was walking along the ridgeline way above a lake and watched a hawk stoop on another bird below me. The hawk passed by me doing about a thousand miles an hour. I could hear the sound the wind made as it passed over his feathers. Like a sheet on the clothes-line with a storm coming.
These things are mine. Like money, or a knife you made/bought just for yourself. There wasn't anyone to share them with, so they belong to me.
Therapeutic? Everyday...

------------------
A Paladin in Hell
 
Wonderful phrase:

"equilibrated to ambient temperature"

I like it even better than:

"metaphysically challenged"

db
 
In addition to the traditional term "dirt nap", we used to use "soil siesta", "sod slumber", and "kissed the planks."

Not as eloquent, but a little variety.

DPD.
 
Like HooDoo, I enjoy the sounds of the forest. If you can get to a quiet place and listen, the entire forest is actually buzzing with energy, movement, and life. I love being alone in the outdoors.
 
My favorite sound in the world is the wind in the pines. I guess you don't hear that in the jungle, but in the mountains, it is definitely food for the soul. It can be hard to get away from others, but definitely worth it!
 
I'm with you. Used to live in the Rockies and heard the wind in the pines every night. Now I live in wisconsin and hear the wind over the tornado siren. Leaves a little something to be desired ;)

 
Some people detest isolation. I need it to keep sane. The more remote the better.
 
...a bit of a Walter Mitty here as I seem to do too much preparing and not enough doing. On the other hand, due perhaps to the sporadic sudden trips I do manage, the impact on me is very strong, when I return the problems are smaller, and the solutions seem more doable.
HJK, here's a Manitoba snapshot from a few years ago, playing peekaboo with a muskrat at the edge of an ice rimmed pond, when I see two Pileated woodpeckers dogfighting around and though the tamaracks lap after figure 8 lap. Amazing.
one thing is I seem to enjoy really learning a small niche, not one for cross country, but maybe as I make more time for it..taking a week in July..
also like coyotlviejo amazed at junk food and VISUAL crap we live among so much of the time..
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top