Does anyone go camping on their own?

[bmartin1uk]

I can honestly say at the age of 31, i don't know if i could do it. Ridiculous i know, but the first snap of a twig i heard, i'd be off running like some clumsy Blair Witch homage.
I'd also feel bad in advance for the poor camper who stumbled across me in the failing light, clutching my Mora, talking to myself about snails crawling along the edge of a straight razor.....you get the slightly over exaggerated and plagiarised picture.
If anyone does, have you ever had one of those 'what the bloody hell was that noise' moments?

 

[Bushwhacker]

Same noises that happen in the day with your eyes shut.

 

[Andy T]

I go on my own but then again i do tend to sleep like a log. There could be a nuclear explosion just outside my tarp and it wouldnt wake me up. However if id had the experience one chap in here had im not sure i could do it again.

 

[huffhuff]

I go on my own but then again i do tend to sleep like a log. There could be a nuclear explosion just outside my tarp and it wouldnt wake me up. However if id had the experience one chap in here had im not sure i could do it again.

Ooooooh, what happened?

 

[Andy T]

im not going to name names but this chap was in his tent when some nutter ran his hand down the nylon the chap concerned could see the handprint very clearly ......think about it .......out on your own and that happens ......you know you are going to be very vulnerable getting out of your tent and whoever it was would have enough notice you are getting out from the zip on your sleeping bag .........personally id have stabbed the hand as hard as i could and worried about the consequences later

 

[sasquatch]

I go on my own, it's not near as bad as you think once you go out and do it. There are no bears here, the only worry are other humans. Chances are they wouldn't want to stumble across someone in the middle of the woods all alone with army kit and sharps on them, they'd more scared of someone like us than we would be of them. I think chavs for the most part avoid anything too far from the car parks and don't want to get their white trainers muddy so no worries there. My wife gets a bit concerned for some reason but I'm sure it's safer than walking home alone through town centre on a Friday night thesedays! Go for it, once you do you'll love the feeling of solitude that goes with it.

 

[ged]

I love camping alone, and I've never had anything that I could call a scary moment while camping although I was terrified of the dark when I was a kid. I don't know when I first camped alone, it was probably in my late teens or early twenties by which time I was rational enough about it not to have irrational fears. A mole did try to get into my sleeping bag with me once, that was quite a surprise.

But a few people here talk about some pretty weird moments, and there are a few threads here already that you probably shouldn't read, here's one of them

 

[Paul_B]

With this lot around? Not anymore!

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=61264

 

[Retired Member southey]

I go by myself al the time, ive had one strange experience of an awomely loud bang, shook the ground loud when umm,,, I inadvertantly fell asleep just south of Dartmeet, i rekon an explosive store blew up at the china clay mine, and no one owned up, but other than that i tend to push into the tress\undergrowth so im not really noticable to anyone else,

 

[Paul_B]

Seriously though I'm in the same boat. I keep meaning to go out on my own. However it would be in the hills of Lakes where I know it well and have confidence. I did a quick overnighter once. Driving back from visiting relatives staying near Bassenthwaite in a caravan I drove home to North Lancs but since I had an early start I decided to stop at the top of Dunmail raise and walked up with my new single skin tent and kipped on a tiny island of flat grass in the middle of the highly eroded path down to Patterdale from Grisedale Tarn next to a flat table like rock. A cracking night apart form some guys across the valley a bit who I couldn't see but heard. Reckon they were bivvybaggers. And the sheep who insisted on using the path all night for their wanderings. A cracking night's sleep only spoiled when I was drinking a cuppa on the way down and I sprained my ankle then did the Fairfield horseshoe with mates on as many ibruprofenols and paracetamols as I could safely take. Still there is something about a nice cuppa as you are already on your way in the high hills on your own at about 7ish in the moring on a bright sunny morning.

Give it a go. My next solio I'm thinking of is a winter tarp and bivvy trip. Never winter camped in my life. So I'm thinking my first one should be in the hills of the Lakes with a tarp and bivvy bag. Solo too. That sound sensible to you as well? I wonder if I'd enjoy doing it on snow too? Might as well make it fun. BTW does the onset of hypothermia wake you up if you are sleeping?

 

[sxmolloy]

im not going to name names but this chap was in his tent when some nutter ran his hand down the nylon the chap concerned could see the handprint very clearly ......think about it .......out on your own and that happens ......you know you are going to be very vulnerable getting out of your tent and whoever it was would have enough notice you are getting out from the zip on your sleeping bag .........personally id have stabbed the hand as hard as i could and worried about the consequences later

Spooky, personally I'd have said....."Say hello to my little friend"....and shown him/her this.....http://www.heinnie.com/Knives/Ontario-Knives/Ontario-RTAK-II/p-92-178-4049/

 

[ex-member Raikey]

Brilliant,...!!

this takes some honesty really but i,m 38 and think i would struggle too,..hahaha

i AM going to give it a go tho,

and i,m very lucky to have a good place within a mile walk from my back door, and i dont even have to touch a pavement to get there.

(a really dense coniferous plantation cavering about a mile and half square,)

not chavs, no crossers (motorbikes not transvestites) not even dog walkers go off the path,..

so all the excuses are taken away but i,m still thinking i,d get to midnight and my imagination would wander to the point of me belting up the lane back to bed,...

anyone wanna come with me?....hahaha

i thought about taking a mate every few weeks and gradually tarping up a few metres apart every time until he was still at home, ...hahaha

sorry for being a wuss but at least i,m honest,...

 

[JonathanD]

Well, I do it all the time and love it. I was the one the tent scraping thing happened to and I still go out there. It's unlikely to happen to anyone and was a freak incident. Being alone in the woods is one of the most rewarding experiences you can possibly have. You just need to overcome your fears and get used to the varied sounds of teh forest at night. Noise is magnified tenfold and the smallest animals can sound like elephants. But remember, the majority of people have a fear of the woods and dark nights, so you don't get many people going out in them at night. Just don't read the 'Fear of the Dark' thread.

 

[SimonM]

I go out alone and love the solitude. "Me Time" is a very precious thing which I don't often get these days.

The only issue I have ever had was beeing buzzed by the Police helicopter once. They must have seen the smoke from my fire, homed in on it and stuck around for a few minutes. I must have passed whatever test they applied as they left me alone, no passing patrols (being at the top of a steep hill may have helped).

Get out on your own...it's a whole different experience.

Simon

PS - Don't watch "Dog Soldiers" before you go:yikes:

 

[MSkiba]

I love solo camping, you dont have to consider other peoples needs in the camp. Really rewarding.

Just like taking off on a plane, keep thinking of logic.

Logic tells us we are the scariest monster in the forest, logic tells us there are no people around for miles. Logic tells us we are well armed. Just like logic tells us flying is perfectly safe.


On my first trip, i listened out for twigs snapping for 20 minutes then was fine, then waited for 2 hours for mates to prank me and still fine. then I just relaxed and was deeply rewarded


Whats the worst that can happen?

 

[Shewie]

Some places feel more eerie than others so I've sometimes pushed on a bit further to find a new camp. I do like the occasional solo trip but the first couple can be a bit edgy if you convince yourself that there's some dodgy stuff out there. I think we usually say about this point that we're the most scary things out there being armed to the teeth with axes and knives, anyone or thing that comes visiting in the night is in for a shock.

 

[para106]

I go out on my own quite a bit. I quite enjoy a few days & nights on my tod. In fact I'm off to the Lakes in December - 5 nights solo then SHMBO is joining me for a few nights. Never had any 'strange happenings' myself apart from a badger getting under the flysheet & having a sniff around the storage area!!

 

[ex-member Raikey]

Has anyone noticed that a native wood has an eerie feel to it, compared to a planted coniferous one?

is it the look of the Ash, Alder ,Oak etc,...?

some woods just "feel" different to others,...

See! i'm doing it now ! scaring me sen!!

 

[Bigfoot]

Bear in mind you don't have to go solo camping for the first time in the darkest, deepest wood you can find (although some say that is the best experience).

I have found that camping on the edge of woods whilst being relatively close to a shoreline gives a nice mix of more open sky to watch at night, whilst the gentle sound of lapping (or crashing!) waves is a good way to drop off to sleep.

I rarely solo camp these days, I used to do a lot as a young 'un but I'm trying to pluck up courage to do a couple of nights in December (when the wife is off to the sun for a week) to see if I can still hack it.

 

[JonathanD]

Coniferous woods are far more silent than deciduous. Even walking through them you make much less noise.