This poll strikes the heart for me. I almost always hike solo year round and have for years. I was fortunate enough to start out with wonderful friends and their parents occasionally who hiked, but as time wore on they became jaded and took alot of baggage with them to the woods. In the golden days, we would go out and be able to speak to each-other without talking....never daring to break the deafening silence or the sound of the wind that speaks deep tongues. Now, they are so disconnected that i cant rely on them to make good choices that allow you to have comfort and excel. I have gotten uncentered and downright depressed and had to go battle it out with myself in the woods, even not been able to reach a resolution at times, but in the end I grounded my life structure and self-possession so I could always enter that "place". At first I started solo-hiking out of interest and just sheer desire to be there without waiting for others. It was when I got my poles that i felt a little more safe because they saved me from some nasty falls. I was around 18. As time moved on, I hiked solo by sheer necessity, because of all of us having kids, conflicting schedules and even economic troubles at times. Some people I have seen forget how important he mountains were to them, while others were steered away by spouses lacking the same value or both. Now, I have hiked solo too much. As I have grown older, more secure, and more centered, not only do I feel more comfortable around differing people but I have learned the sheer joy of precious human beings. I meet so many fantastic people on the trail that just click.....but I never follow up, because most people would think you are deranged if you wanted to ask to hike with them in the future.....I guess some people just don't feel the same value in others I do, or are fortunate to be inundated with wonderful people......occasionally it works out though, especially with Mainers.They are usually over themselves enough, lack snobbery and see good people at a premium. The hard part for me now is that I DO want to meet people who are centered and know equally when to be silent and walk slower or methodically and quietly to soak up a stretch of inexplicably peaceful trail.....as they do also know when to make intoxicating jokes. I have found many newer hikers never saw the quiet of the early nineties, and don't even know that it is a resource and a value that they are missing, free of cellphones, idiosyncratic summit registers and huge gab groups. people used to take space at summits and give you room or take turns having quiet time on a summit....they would be deliberately be quiet around others and shared blissful smiles of conferred quiescence. there was equanimity, and random food sharing. Now, I see people using GPS and tracking realtime in spot, or doing breakneck traverses so far and so fast they miss a 450 year old tree 138 feet tall. I hope I meet some good people out there.......or on here. I think the thing that magnetizes as well as glues alike and good people together is those who have a true love of nature and share the virtue of leave no trace. If some people start with ticking off a list and end up becoming ghandi in the woods.....so be it. Perhaps some ride the middle path of elevating the mind with adventure, while restraining it with the anesthetic of serenity......but you have to be well enough to swallow the medicine. i welcome anyone who understands. in that context, i have found a camaraderie and bond that exists no where else. I takes a spiritual level humility and a reverence for the woods to allow two or three people to unite in serendipity effortlessly. That was once a standard for me, and now its a rare gift. I think society is busier and more electronic these days and people get stuck in the rooms in there heads, even among others, while the firmament of the outdoor cathedral beckons all with no ceiling or limit. Whats important is that I love human beings and am happy to see anyone getting the outdoor medicine, and Ive gotten over my self enough to enjoy the company of anyone with enough moxie to go "out there"
