How many of you go solo?

[hmaddox]

How many of you bikepack solo? I don't know anyone here in Central Arkansas who's into bikepacking but there's a lot of territory to be explored in the Ouachita and Ozark National Forests. But to be honest, I'm a bit afraid to go solo. An increasing number of mountain lion sightings and a recent report of a black bear "stalking" a few hikers makes me uneasy...I don't know how some guys on here ride around Montana, Canada, Alaska, etc. without constantly worrying about grizzlies (maybe it's just me). I know that wildlife run-ins are exceedingly rare, but I just can't get them off my mind and am hesitant to head into the wilderness without someone else along for the ride. Should I put off a trip until I find a bikepacking partner or just get over my fear of going alone?

[Eastman]

I do a lot of stuff solo - backpacking, bikepacking, winter night riding, etc. and here is what I can tell you:  the first time you do any of this solo you will feel uneasy.  But that uneasiness will go away.  After the unease you will be filled with a sense of confidence and accomplishment.  You will start to see the upside of going solo:  being able to travel at your own pace, on your own schedule, the benefits of solitude.  Going solo increases your focus.  Is is very rewarding. 

Be smart when you are out there alone.  Be extra detailed when leaving your travel plans with others.  Check in and leave "all is well" messages whenever possible.  Think twice about everything you do.

And please report back to us when you take your first solo trip.  We love to share the stoke.

[VABikePacker]

I do a lot of stuff solo - backpacking, bikepacking, winter night riding, etc. and here is what I can tell you:  the first time you do any of this solo you will feel uneasy.  But that uneasiness will go away.  After the unease you will be filled with a sense of confidence and accomplishment.  You will start to see the upside of going solo:  being able to travel at your own pace, on your own schedule, the benefits of solitude.  Going solo increases your focus.  Is is very rewarding. 

Be smart when you are out there alone.  Be extra detailed when leaving your travel plans with others.  Check in and leave "all is well" messages whenever possible.  Think twice about everything you do.

And please report back to us when you take your first solo trip.  We love to share the stoke.

+1

[wahday]

I've only bikepacked solo. It's just hard to find a lot of people close by and then to coordinate schedules makes it challenging. Still I have enjoyed myself immensely. I am in bear and mountain lion country a lot (the Cibola nat'l forest has the second highest pop. of black bears and mtn. lions) and I actually find the idea of it is scarier then when I am out there.

I am very cautious and have even cooked dinner on the trail and then continued on a while before camping. You probably know all this but always hang a bear bag at least 100 yards from where you camp. If you cook at the same site, do that 100 yards from both. Mountain lion encounters rarely result in attacks unless they have been habituated with a good deal of human contact. Still, that's some scary stuff!! I try to have a plan in mind if attacked and am vigilant while riding. Last summer I came across 6 different piles of mountain lion scat so they are out there. But again, when I am on the trail it doesn't feel so scary. I see way more deer and elk scat and I rarely see them either.

Poking through this site I get the impression that a lot of folks bikepack solo. It's not a crazy idea. A bit scary perhaps but that adds to the exhilaration to some extent. I do carry a high powered pellet pistol but its not going to do anything more than possibly scare something off (it's pretty loud). I keep meaning to get some bear spray but haven't yet.

Good luck and do report back. I love a good trip report!

[dave54]

Solo is the only way to go.  Alone with your thoughts.  Setting your own pace and itinerary.  Changing your route in the middle without having to agree with a partner.  Plus the feeling of being more alive when you realize you are responsible for yourself with no safety net of a partner.

There is no increased risk of a mishap.  The risk is not having someone to help you if there is a mishap.  On the contrary, solo is safer for me.  I am more cautious and take fewer risks.

On other forums I have been criticized and ridiculed when I state I backpack off trail solo, often without an itinerary, deciding upon my route as I go.  But I am very comfortable solo.  I am confident in my skills as is my wife.  She does not worry about me on my 'me time'.  This does not mean I am blissfully ignorant or flippant of the risks,  I am very aware, and mitigate by taking the proper precautions.  I am in my comfort zone solo.

[bmike-vt]

solo for me mostly, there are only a few people that i like enough to want to spend my downtime / exploring time with, and often schedules can't and don't coincide.

[12wheels]

Most of my trips are solo and I ride in areas where mountain lions and bears are common.  They'll do their best to avoid you.  Use commonsense, cook and store your food away from camp.  Watch for tracks and keep riding if you spot signs of a recent mountain lion kill.  If you camp in the woods check the trees for dead limbs, you don't want anything crashing down on you if the winds pick up.

[chrisx]

I spent the last 3 weeks walking isolated trails and visiting ruins in Guatemala.  No monkeys beat me up, and no jaguar pounced on me.
One foggy morning I was hesitant about climbing to the top of a crumbled pyramid.  Looked like a long ways to fall.  Would I get hurt if I took a tumble.  A couple of 6 year old barefoot Mayan girls shoved me aside and climbed past me.  

nerves anticipation is a natural part of life. 
 now go have a nice day on your bike.

[evdog]

Most of my bikepacks have been solo, and I have not worried too much about it.  On a backpacking overnighter (also solo) this summer I saw a lot of bear trace (scat and tracks) and so I cooked a couple hundred meters downstream of where I camped.  Also left my food cache and cookware there too.  No harm was done to any of my gear or food cache.  Most of the time here I don't worry about it though I probably should be more concerned than what I am.  Most of my food comes in sealed backpacker pouches or self-vacuum packed pouches.  It is probably more prudent to be more careful but I never seem to have any problems.

[Area54]

Solo for me, concur with what is already said. I find it heightens my awareness of my surroundings and enhances the enjoyment factor - you notice and appreciate the finer details in flora and fauna due to this hyper-sensitivity. In a world that gets smaller and smaller with the digital/information age, going solo with little or no support does seem to make the world a bit bigger again, putting this human back into his place as just another dumb animal on this rock in space.

Here, the critters won't eat you (edit - the salty crocs will), but they still have ways to take you down. Dusk, dawn and right through the night, kangaroos will dart onto the trail and collide with you - not intentionally, but they are flighty, top heavy and the big males can be aggressive. Possums are like raccoons, very skilled and with a pre-hensile tail, can scale up and down things to get to food - some are clever enough to open zips on packs. Knowledge is key to gaining an understanding on the animals that inhabit the areas you are travelling through.

Animals you can sort of understand and respect their POV. Humans however, can be a worse risk. Go see a movie called 'Wolf Creek' to get an understanding from an aussie perspective. Animals can be scary, but I think humans are scarier.

Build up to it. Start small and increase your experience base within your boundaries, then challenge yourself regularly to raise the bar. Of course you'll make mistakes, and risk is part of the challenge, so calculate the risk and only expose yourself to potential mistakes/risks you can recover from. Keep your head logical.

[jbphilly]

I go solo, I don't know anyone else who goes. (I live in Philadelphia). Of course, we also don't have bears or mountain lions...the most savage animals are ticks and mosquitoes, so I'm many times more likely to be killed in the city than in the woods.

[chrisx]

black bear "stalking"
Black bears do not stalk people.  It is possible they wanted to eat their garbage.  It is difficult to get a black bear to attack a person. If you decide to attack the bear, kick it, hit it with a stick etc, it might fight back. Standing between a mother and a young cub could on rare occasions force the mother to defend.  If you see a cub alone turn around and look for mom, she is not far away.  If you find your self between the 2, move sideways.  Do not get closer to mom, do not get further away.  Move slowly, do not run.  Let mom walk to her cub. Don't block her path.

Mountain lions have attacked people on rare occasion.  It was mostly a case of mistaken identity.  They will avoid you if they can.  They have terrible eye sight.  Stand up straight. don't bring meat into the forest.  The smell of blood, and a person bent over, might trick the half blind lion into thinking you are a wounded animal.

The only true danger in the Ozarks is a drunken fool.

[hmaddox]

Chrisx, you're right, "stalking" isn't the right word--I just meant that the bear was unafraid to approach the hikers and returned to their camp once or twice after being shooed away.

Thanks everyone for chiming in and offering your support. It's given me the confidence to head off on my own (hopefully sometime in the next month or two, once I finish my bag setup). Most "publications" you read will tell you never to go off on your own, but it's the way I'd prefer to do it (at least most of the time) and after hearing from you all that it's not a big deal I'm a lot less anxious. Cheers 

[kbabin]

hmaddox,

I haven't done a solo bikepack trip yet, but I wouldn't worry to much about bears in AR.  Most reports of bear sighting are at places like Redding on the Mulberry or any other campgrounds with alot of garbage cans.

What kind of trip are you thinking about?

Kev

[hmaddox]

Hey Kbabin,

I live in Little Rock so I was thinking about riding from my front door out to the Ouachita NF (Lake Sylvia area, perhaps) via the many dirt roads west of Pinnacle Mountain. Have you done any bikepacking up in NWA? I'd love to see some of your routes if so.

[kbabin]

I have only bikepacked on the OT.  There aren't any trails here that would work for bikepacking.  One option is to use the Trans-American Trail (http://www.transamtrail.com/) to connect a dirt road bikepacking trip.  I have the maps, but haven't done a ride yet....still working on doing all of the OT that is rideable.

Kev

[KenSmithMT]

+1

+1

I've lived in AR and now live and ride in Montana.  I'll take the pesky local bears and mtn lions over the snakes in Arkansas any day.   Go out and take a camera along.  Be quiet and look for the animals.  Before long you'll be more excited about seeing them than you were nervous in the beginning.

[VABikePacker]

pyramids

.....the true sign of diminishing goals.....

[Chunt]

I've only bikepacked solo, but I had previous experience backpacking solo, so it wasn't a big deal. Just don't watch too many horror movies beforehand and you should be fine :-) One way I like to approach all solo adventures is to consider it like being a pilot of a small aircraft with no one else on the plane. There can be no room for errors and most every possible accident or mechanical failure scenario has already been considered with a logical survival followthrough. From personal experience I'll have to say most of the dumb things I've done solo were a direct result from being tired or trying to make time and usually near the end of the day. Stop before you get in that situation. Another night in the woods is smarter than trying to highball a trailhead before dusk. I play a lot of what-if games in my head when I'm going along through the day as part of my training.

[Ty]

From another perspective I'm squarely in the newbie realm right now for solo overnight missions as I have buddy's who enjoy off road touring... but I want to do some trail races and learn to be alone when needed.  I also suffer from some serious Bearanoid when contemplating the risks of long solo ordeals.  Having been on the wrong side of some human to human interactions I take my fear of the unknown seriously because it makes me learn about the risks.  It took a group of young street thugs to send me to the ER for surgery and a CAT scan of my brain so I feel like I'm justified to take it seriously.  People and cars freak me out, so do bears and mountain lions.  It comes down to learning about the risk and accepting that you can only prepare for it.  Fortunately most of the people who get in a jam with risk don't plan ahead, so I mitigate risk with planning and let life happen.  At least that is what I tell myself!

As an example a local rider here in Orange County California at Whiting Ranch in 04, aka the 'burbs, was killed (or maybe scavenged after a heart attack) while doing a ride by a mountain lion.  The same day that cat attacked two ladies.  One was taken by the cat while the other fought the lion off.  She likely would have died without her partner.  The park had a big cat captured and relocated in 2012 after a run in with a person on trail so plenty of them are out there and likely accustomed to humans.  This is the same county as "Housewives of the OC" and not remote by any means.  Personally I've only seen healthy size bob cats but no lions.  Best bet if you get jumped by a cat is melee with a knife as that will be the only legal weapon you might have.  See here for the news story http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/environment/article/Big-Bend-mountain-lion-attacks-boy-6-3105934.php and here for the guys forum write up http://www.spyderco.com/forums/showthread.php?54132-caly-3-5-vs-mountain-lion.  Look at this link and search the page for "knife" and see how many real people a knife helped out over the years.  http://www.cougarinfo.org/attacks.htm.  Big cats will take a handful of minutes to actually kill you so if you have something on your person you can get a few shots in and try to turn the tide.  They need to strangle, bleed you out, or break your neck... all without an opposable thumb

Snakes are much more common here in CA.  I've come across 5 rattlesnakes on trail between the '11/12 seasons.  I was in the middle of a double track fire road climb and nearly ran a big one over because it was hot and I was kinda bonky just focused on turning pedals.  He is in the second picture and a different species that blends in better on dirt roads.  Just sunning on the road and here I come with front wheel 1 foot away about to run over his middle section, naturally he scooted out of the way into a striking position with head up and rattle going... and I needed new shorts.  The guy in the first picture I came across a week later and he is the type that does not blend in too well.    They are generally real mellow and don't even move when I am going around them.  They can only strike from 1/2 to 1 full body length so that is a general keep out zone to be in.  If you do get nipped get to the hospital within two hours for best results... nothing you can do will help other than taking off restrictive clothing to let the swelling happen.  Fixing the problem requires anti-venom and other than a hospital an animal vet might have it.  Try to keep your heart rate low but that is kinda idealistic due to stress/activity.  






All of this motivated me to do some research and establish personal guidelines.  I searched here quite a bit as well.  Here are some ways I plan to make myself more comfortable for solo stuff in '13.

1.  Bear spray, this magic in a can is good for people, dogs and cats too.  Buy three or four of the one you plan to carry with you.  Practice shoot a couple of them so you know what you are doing and experience the sensation of being around it.  Used correctly bear spray has been shown to be an effective defense when attacked.
2.  A 3"-5" knife, fixed or defense style folding blade, is a useful tool for many a situation from cooking to combat.  If it comes to grappling around off my feet with a cat as an opponent I'm going have a legally and safely carried knife on my person.  Most creatures are going to be seriously hurt in the center torso, kidney, groin, eye, and neck areas.  Bears are just going to eat you at that point.
3.  Make all kinds of noise, on a dark night in the woods you don't want to sneak up on anything... let it know you are coming and it will likely leave.
4.  Have a GPS device like a Spot or DeLorme InReach that will allow you to communicate with the outside world if you are in a situation.  If you are alive but broken or bleeding too bad to roll this might be the last straw.
5.  Absolutely and always practice the tactic of de-escalation.  There is absolutely no reason to fight if you can find a way to avoid it.  Learn what makes the opponent tick and out maneuver them to avoid conflict.
6.  Fear of the unknown is worse that the reality and will lead to inaction.
7.  Water, food, and cars are absolutely the first things likely to get you in trouble.  Dehydration and hunger lead to poor choices that snowball.  Here in CA cars are pretty courteous if they can see you, but you need to be seen.  I like white, neon, polka-dots, lights, reflectors, etc.
8.  REFUSE to be a victim when presented with an offensive opponent that cannot be treated with de-escalation.  People, dogs, cats, and bears will choose a logical victim to attack whom they believe will submit.  Immediately make it clear that you will not surrender or run like prey when presented with an attack mode opponent you cannot avoid.

If all else fails to cure the bearanoid get two of these and call the doctor in the AM... the Smith and Wesson .44 Magnum 329PD is only 25.1 ounces (711 grams) unloaded LOL.  That is crazy light and actually pretty easy to legally carry in states like Montana.  Not that I actually recommend the .44 mag but my good buddy from Alaska likes to have one when he goes out in the woods back home.  http://www.smith-wesson.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product4_750001_750051_765591_-1_757770_757767_757751_ProductDisplayErrorView_Y