Poll: Hiking or Climbing Solo - Do you do it? Ever?

[sierra]

It depends on the dog. I've had dogs that didn't seem to have any tracking ability at all, but the trail finding ability of some dogs is nothing short of amazing. The last time I did Owl's head, we took the Black Pond whack. On the way in Lauky went where I went. But hours later on the way back through that whack it was raining fairly hard and Lauky took the lead and laid down a track exactly on top of the GPS track we laid on the way in. He even passed on the same side of the trees, I can remember passing right over a footprint that I had left in a mud patch that in the morning. We made it back through in 20 minutes, it was like walking on an established trail. Also, if someone has gone through the same area ahead of us he will follow that track. Too bad for us though if the person we're following has lost the trail and we do too. I guess we'll be lost together? Just the other day we were following the Benton Mackaye trail along the banks of the Hiwassee river in TN. At a certain point he started charging and I could tell he had picked up a track. We followed it for a long time when the trail cut to the left and switch backed up the side of the mt. Lauky insisted on going straight ahead but I wouldn't let him. My guess was that whoever he was following had gone straight ahead. Some time later 500 ft. or so above the river I heard someone calling from far off and sure enough sunning themselves on some rocks down on the river was a couple with a dog. Dogs indeed can be very useful.

MY Aussie also has an uncanny ability to follow a trail, winter or summer. Just recently, he went off trail at a turn following someone who did the same thing. After 40 ft he stopped looked at me and turned around returning to the correct trail, I was very pleased.

 

[Raymond]

I haven’t hiked with anyone else (started out hiking with anyone else, that is; I’ve fallen into step with someone else occasionally) since November 2011, when I convinced my son to join me for one last hike (my 12th in 12 different months) of Mount Watatic.

My ladyfriend, Susan, retired from hiking after 2007. (Retired from climbing mountains, that is; we still walk around the neighborhood or local conservation areas, but her knees click on the steeps, so she won’t climb mountains anymore.) She did join me for a climb of Mount Kearsarge (the one in central New Hampshire) in October 2008, but I’ve been nothing but solo for more than two years.

‘‘With some frequency,’’ to my mind, implies more than just two or three times a year, so it may be overstating it to say that I hike with some frequency in four seasons, but I have done some solo hikes in winter in my life (Monadnock thrice, Watatic twice, Pierce), and to select the three-season option might imply that I do hike frequently with others during the winter — I’ve climbed mountains in winter, but the few winter hikes I’ve done with someone else are outnumbered by the few solo winter hikes.

The gist of my vote for the first option is that any more hikes I do this or any subsequent winter will certainly be by myself.

By the way, I took ‘‘hiking’’ to mean ‘‘hiking in the mountains,’’ rather than just walking around in the woods near my home or work here in Eastern Massachusetts. If, by ‘‘climbing,’’ you mean rock climbing, rather than merely climbing a mountain by hiking up it, then I’ve never done that under any circumstances aside from twice up the REI climbing wall.

 

[TJsName]

MY Aussie also has an uncanny ability to follow a trail, winter or summer. Just recently, he went off trail at a turn following someone who did the same thing. After 40 ft he stopped looked at me and turned around returning to the correct trail, I was very pleased.

A few years ago did what was supposed to be a moonlight walk up Glen Boulder, but our human leaders ended up bringing us down the Avalanche Brook trail. After a while we figured it out, but we were tired so we just kept going down to Rocky Branch. I ended up in the lead with my Demi, my 8lb Rat Terrier. She did a a phenomenal job following the overgrown ski trail in the dark considering she was walking under most of the vegetation.

 

[TEO]

My catagory is missing.
As a cyclist, I only start hiking in winter.

As is my category. I'm a skier, I only hike in the summer and fall. If I'm backcountry skiing, I tend to go with at least one other person, but I'm not averse to soloing. This includes backcountry skiing by headlamp. I've a particularly fond memory of skiing the Camel's Hump backcountry in a snowstorm, solo, starting the tour well after dark, and getting what some might refer to as lost. In reality I just wasn't where I wanted to be, but I had no trouble getting back to my car. Though not physically very distant, seldom have I felt so far removed from civilization.

As for hiking, it fluctuates. Many years, especially those when I'm focused on a particular list, it may push 90% solo. Other years, it may be 50/50.

 

[Stash]

Mostly winter. Mostly solo. My last one really didn't count as I didn't catch a picture of that little piece of snow I saw...

 

[Mac]

My itinerary is almost always solo, although I stick to official trails and try to start out with people behind and ahead of me. I'm mostly a 3 season hiker with occasional visits to Tuckerman in the winter and spring for the hiking and skiing. When I go up there, its always when there are a fair number of other hikers/skiers/boarders around, although I usually travel from Nova Scotia solo.

 

[Chip]

The vast majority of people here (85% or more) appear to hike in winter solo on occasion and 100% of respondents (all 97) hike solo sometimes.

Not to be a "Debbie Downer" here but: Only the vast majority of people who responded to the poll hike in winter solo.
The vast majority of VFTT'rs or the general hiking public did not respond and do not hike winter solo.

 

[bikehikeskifish]

I solo'd the Tripyramids today. LOTS of animal tracks Unbroken powder. Skied up Livermore Road and snowshoed Scaur over to Middle and back.

Tim

 

[Raven]

Not to be a "Debbie Downer" here but: Only the vast majority of people who responded to the poll hike in winter solo.
The vast majority of VFTT'rs or the general hiking public did not respond and do not hike winter solo.

Debbie Downer,

I agree - that's why the post you quoted says "The vast majority of people here (85% or more) appear to hike in winter solo on occasion and 100% of respondents (all 97) hike solo sometimes." Emphasis added. It's also why my other posts in the thread refer to the poll not being scientific, and why I when I have quoted numbers, I have been careful to specify it's just from the respondents to this poll.

Out of curiosity, how do you know that Vast Majority of VFTTers do not hike solo in winter ever? That may or may not be true but of the well over 100 people who have responded to this thread, the Vast Majority, more than 85%, do actually hike solo in winter. I would like as many active members to answer as possible.

How many people are VFTTers? Not how many have a profile, but how many active members do we actually have?

Oh Tim? Let's say active is one or more posts in the last month. Do you have that info at your fingertips?

 

[bikehikeskifish]

3097 registered users
256 have posted this year
406 have visited this year

Tim

 

[Raven]

3097 registered users
256 have posted this year
406 have visited this year

Tim

Thank you Sir.

So roughly 46% of the VFTTs who have posted this year have taken the poll (118 of 256).

and 29% of the VFTTers who have visited this year have taken the poll (118 of the 406).

 

[Chip]

Okay ! My apologies. I stand corrected.
Clearly 46% of the VFTT'rs who have posted this year have taken the poll !

I guess I'm not sure why we're not running into more of you. It's generally pretty quiet out there.

 

[Raven]

Okay ! My apologies. I stand corrected.
Clearly 46% of the VFTT'rs who have posted this year have taken the poll !

I guess I'm not sure why we're not running into more of you. It's generally pretty quiet out there.

I'd be interested to see what the numbers would look like if we could get nearly all VFTTers to take it - I was suprised the numbers seem so high myself Chip, but now I'm curious about the percentages for the larger group and non-VFTTers as well.

Keep in mind that all someone has to do is hike solo once in a while in the winter to be part of the 85%. Many of those 85% could still hike in groups very often as well.

As far as not running into solo hikers more often, If I am hiking solo and want solitide, I tend to avoid popular trails at popular times. In winter, that is not so easy, but in summer, I avoid the popular trails and I sometimes start very early or very late any time of year. I plan trips with crowd-avoidance in mind. It's not cuncommon for me to hike all day and only see 1-2 others or no one for that matter. I hiked Garfield 3 weeks ago on a Saturday without seeing a single other person on trail and no prints showing anyone had been on trail or across the ridge. Those days in winter are rarer than they were 10 years ago, but there is something very special about being the only one on the mountain.

 

[bikehikeskifish]

I have learned that VFTT does not automatically glean all of the uber hikers out there, FWIW. Many gridiots, NH200/300 finishers, SSW48ers, soloists, etc., just don't care for the "online hiking experience". So, while there is probably more experience than average in those 406/256 (just a guess), by no means can one infer that there are not others out there doing more exotic things than soloing in winter.

Tim

 

[jrbren]

Most of my hikes are solo. For many years I would average 2 day hikes a month or more, year round. I do not have the itch to go hiking this winter, looking forward to spring. If hiking partners are available I prefer the company but usually I decide to hike within 12 hours of actually going based on the weather reports. I consider solo hiking much safer then group hiking for many reasons, the ability to be flexible being one of them. Just shear numbers being another, there are less ankles that could potentially sprain, and as arrogant as it sounds, I trust my own judgement over 90% of of others I would hook up with.

 

[cushetunk]

I have learned that VFTT does not automatically glean all of the uber hikers out there, FWIW. Many gridiots, NH200/300 finishers, SSW48ers, soloists, etc., just don't care for the "online hiking experience". So, while there is probably more experience than average in those 406/256 (just a guess), by no means can one infer that there are not others out there doing more exotic things than soloing in winter.

Tim

One way to interpret this pole may be that VFTT users -- of any experience level -- are in general very motivated people. We are motivated to think and write about hiking in our free time, and we are likewise motivated to actually go hiking, regardless of whether or not anyone can join us.

 

[natron]

I answered the 1st option as most did on here.. I solo hike roughly 75% of the time year round.. mainly because majority of my hiking friends have different free days and a hike is better than no hike..

 

[Raven]

I have learned that VFTT does not automatically glean all of the uber hikers out there, FWIW. Many gridiots, NH200/300 finishers, SSW48ers, soloists, etc., just don't care for the "online hiking experience". So, while there is probably more experience than average in those 406/256 (just a guess), by no means can one infer that there are not others out there doing more exotic things than soloing in winter.

Tim

Without a doubt. This poll seems pretty representative of VFTT it appears (presidential elections are called on lower percentages for example), but I would not extend the conclusions past this forum. A poll of hikers at random locations on random days could give an idea of what may be occurring.

Interestingly enough, a paper was somehow published with n=199 in a Brown study done recently trying to determine who carries gear recommended by HikeSafe. From the article: "To compile the data, Mason surveyed 199 hikers in the summer of 2011 at the heads of three trails of varying difficulty in the national forest." I made my opinion clear in the thread that I thought that n value seemed very low for publishable work. For comparison, this poll is up to n=120 and is increasing daily. If one could show that VFTT represents a somewhat random sampling of hikers (at least equal to picking three trailheads), we are getting close to that number. The author of that work made conclusions from that sample and had his work reviewed by a board and published.

http://news.brown.edu/pressreleases/2013/05/hikers

VFTT Thread on said article:

http://www.vftt.org/forums/showthread.php?49176-New-grist-for-the-SAR-debate-from-Brown-University-study&highlight=brown+university

A poll of random hikers would certainly be interesting to see in order to find out if the numbers we are seeing here on VFTT are reflected throughout the mountain community in general. There seems to be a sense that VFTT is somehow a group of "experts." Maybe so, but as Tim has pointed out, there are plenty of "experts" in the hills, likely hiking solo on occasion, who are not part of VFTT.

 

[RoySwkr]

3097 registered users
256 have posted this year
406 have visited this year

Presumably "this year" means since January 1

Tim probably has the statistics to prove it, but the forum definitely gets more visitors in summer as many folks don't hike at all in winter, or not often enough to care about a hiking forum

The forum-non-winter-visitors are unlikely to be heavy winter solo hikers, it might be interesting to capture the votes so far at the end of each month and see how the distribution changes as 3-season and summer-only hikers come back

Votes after first 120:
I hike or climb solo all 4 seasons with some frequency. 88 73.33%
I hike or climb solo all 4 seasons occasionally or rarely. 15 12.50%
I hike or climb solo in warmer seasons with some frequency. 8 6.67%
I hike solo or climb solo in warmer seasons occasionally or rarely. 7 5.83%
I do not hike or climb solo. 2 1.67%

 

[bikehikeskifish]

Presumably "this year" means since January 1

Correct.

Tim probably has the statistics to prove it, but the forum definitely gets more visitors in summer as many folks don't hike at all in winter, or not often enough to care about a hiking forum

There are definitely seasonal variations. There is definitely an uptick in winter - probably for trail conditions.

Pages/requests for the last 12 months.


Tim