Thanks Bryan
I have been to Nessmunking before, and enjoyed it greatly. Lots of tips and info. I have been away from wilderness canoe tripping for too long, and am hoping to get in a decent trip either next May or September at BWCAW. It will probably be a solo.
Jim
Yeah, how’d I get so off-topic?!!?
Sorry 'bout that.
And if you’re usually the cook on group trips, I can easily understand why you don’t bother cooking on solo trips. That’s your vacation from cooking! If I’m cooking for myself, I often go with just freeze-dried stuff and am content but groups seem to expect more elaborate preps.
You mean
you don’t want to go with Frank and me?
Doc
Fall Solo Trips
Thanks for the nice remarks. I always like fall solo trips the best. There’s something about being along in the fall with the nip of winter during the nights, the calm of the animals before migration, and, if lucky, the northern lights. My best solo trips have always included a touch of snow. Plus, in the BWCA, there are less people at the end of Sept and beginning of Oct.
News to me
I must have missed that staff meeting.
Doc, what I meant to say was “IN a solo”.
Jim
Yeah, maybe
that’s the meeting you missed. Frank and I talked about taking our solo canoes up to BWCA in the spring or fall. In the meantime, I think we’re going to paddle in Florida between Christmas and New Year. I’ll be in Alabama with my family and he’ll be in Florida with his mom. I’m already getting withdrawal symptoms.
We’ll include you in our plans for the boundary waters.
Doc
Amen!
“My best solo trips have always included a touch of snow. Plus, in the BWCA, there are less people at the end of Sept and beginning of Oct.”
Same here. I try to get one in after October 1. No permits to get (aside from the self-issued one) or pay for. No entry point quotas. Pick where you want to go and go.
Solo
Not a tremendous number of groups doing extended trips on the Texas coast. Plus, camping and sea kayaking is a wonderful solo experience.
solo trips
Just did a 10 day trip down the Cape Fear River in November. I thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail solo, and paddled the Mississippi with my fiancee, but this was the first long paddle trip by myself.
Wierd. I still love going out by myself, but I did miss having my ladyfriend around on a paddling trip. I guess after spending 73 days in a canoe together, we’re stuck with each other!
Here’s the link with audio journal, photos, gear list, and whatnot.
http://www.sourcetosea.net/CapeFear/overview.html
A week
Peace and quiet. And no one to please but me! There is something about being by yourself and not even speaking aloud for a couple of days on end. When you start to - and there is no one else around - it’s time to head back!
JH Bahn
Right On EastofMidnight
The peace and tranquility is what makes me yearn for solo trips. I love traveling with friends but the solo experience is spiritual and a renewing experience.
how long?
used to be a week.
Then that wasnt enough.
Then ten days
next year a month
Its an addiction.
Gradually it takes over.
isle royale solo
i did a 2 week paddle on isle royale last august.
Plenty of interaction with hikers and boaters at campgrounds if so desired, although some places were more isolated. I tour solo on my motocycle too so not any big change for me to paddle solo. I’ve found over the years its hard to keep good travel companions freed up and not everyone can travel like i do, often, far, and for as long as possible. So soloing gets some of that out of my system and makes me more amenable to group travel.
Also soloing provides for the chance to practice my eccentricities. For instance, on isle royale, i was standing in my campsite being roundly scolded by one of the endemic red squirrels that was up in the top of a spruce tree cutting down pine cones and dropping them on the ground. These squirrels are notoriously noisy as you’ll know if you’ve been there. So i was looking up at the squirrel that was chirping at me and finally for some reason said out loud, “Look, i didn’t tell you to go up there”. Of course just after the words left my mouth i noticed a young woman walking along the shore past my camp, looking at me. I was about to explain that i wasn’t talking to myself or the almighty but to the squirrel but caught myself just in time, somethings are best left unsaid.
Solo
I do alot of solo tripping. I enjoy the solitude alot when out on longer solo journeys. On my longer trips, it is difficult to find others who can, and would, commit to the really long trips and i don’t active look for partners for the longer trips.
Trips of a couple days to a week or two, i equlaly enjoy these either solo or with others. For longer trips though, I tend to lean towards going solo. Longest paddling trip so far is just under 6 months.
Next big trip is a solo trip by sea kayak around Vancouver Island coming up in June.
Cheers…Joe
http://www.geocities.com/outrageous_outdoors
Count me in
– Last Updated: May-21-07 8:29 PM EST –
Been there...done that.
Why solo? I don't think I can answer your question because I'm not a writer but when you paddle a trip solo you will have your own answer.
Open your mind, eyes, ears and especially your heart. If you don't feel any different when you finish...your trip wasn't long enough, you didn't see what was to be seen and you didn't listen.
You might want to read this from the "discussion forum"
http://www.paddling.net/message/showThread.html?fid=chat&tid=654653
Solo kayaking
In 2001 I kayaked solo from olympia washington to Juneau Alaska. I went solo as i couldnt find anyone to go with me. With other people you can share the beauty of the journey with them, and have companionship. Safety is kind of a two edged sword as the more people the more chances of accidents or whatnot. Solo your basically on your own. There is no distractions…Its just you, creation, and God. Solo you can go at your pace, etc. My favorite thing about solo is its one on one time with God. He can speak to you when your alone for he has your attention. He taught me many paddling skills when I kayaked up the inside passage. I highly recomend it. If you use your brain you can minimize risks.Learn what is dangerous from others who have gone before you if you can. Peace
Toi go solo
For me paddleing alone is much like when I hunt alone.I’m much more aware of the suroundings and often see more and in no big hurry.
solo tripping
…but how do you know where the camps sites are? or if you are allowed to camp at all. How do you reconize the camp site from the river? So may questions. How do you get back to the put in? How do you…enough already. A few comments on solo planning would be appreciated.
I hate to harp on this
but if you have not visited Bryan Hansel’s site yet - DO SO! More info on this topic than you can shake a beaver stick at. (nessmuking.com)
Since this thread was started I have been to the BWCA with Doc and Frank. While we traveled together, in many ways we had three parallel solo trips. We were often scattered across a lake barely within eyesite. Our only community equipment was a 15x15 tarp and the stove that Frank and Doc shared (I used a JetBoil).
I took a mix of freeze-dried and Lipton’s dinners. Next time it will be 100% freeze dried. The comments made previously about the hassle of solo cooking are spot-on: When simply sitting in camp and chilling out are high on the priority list it is nice to have no more responsibility than to watch your watch for the proper soaking time on a FD dinner.
Jim
I’ve since
gotten my own jet boil. I’m tired of waiting for Frank to get up so we can have coffee. 
Solo boaters are independent cusses.
Doc