Convincing Your Loved Ones You're Safe While Solo Hiking

Convincing Your Loved Ones You’re Safe While Solo

So, you wanna go into the woods by yourself? This can be so exciting, yet nerve-wracking! One of the most difficult parts is convincing your loved ones that you’re safe while solo. Well, how exactly do you do this? I have some tips for you below!

Educate Your Loved Ones

Part of the reason people are scared when their loved ones go off into the woods alone is that they are just uneducated about the matter. It’s easy to be scared of something you don’t know when A) you’ve never done it and B) all you hear about are murders on the Appalachian Trail and cougar or bear attacks. How do you combat this part of human nature, where the worst case scenario is all they can think of? Sit down and have a conversation with them! It helps to know statistics of the area you’ll be hiking in for the wildlife encounters, as well as some general safety statistics. This way you’ll be able to back up what your thoughts with facts and put their mind to ease. They will also appreciate the time you took to have a mature conversation about it and trying to calm their fear.

Here are just a couple of facts to get you started on your research:

Bear attacks kill on average 3 people per year in the United States, whereas transportation accidents cause 48,441 (circa 2017)

Mountain Lion attacks average 6 per year, with less than 1 fatality as a result (circa

Build An Itinerary

After you sit down and have a conversation go over many aspects of your trip, your next step should be to create an itinerary! Planning and getting a good layout for our solo adventure is going to make you more confident AND show your loved ones how prepared you really are. This guide will help your loved ones keep tabs on you, as long as you check in on a regular basis to let them know if you are keeping to schedule or falling behind. This works great when paired with a satellite messenger (see below), so you can communicate even when out of cellphone coverage.

GPS and Satellite Messaging

A really great tool that you can use to ease the mind of your loved ones is Satellite Messengers. These don’t need cell service, so you’re able to send an “I’m okay” message at the end of the day. This can really comfort your loved ones at home. Especially if you are on a more intense hike, like the Appalachian Trail, or a week-long trip up north where there is no service. These tend to be a little spendy, the Garmin InReach and InReach Mini are great options. Depending on budget and how often you will go on these excursions, renting may be a more affordable option try here and here.

Invite Them On A Trip

Now, you don’t need to invite them on the solo trip that you have been planning (although, you can if you’d like). The fear that your loved one is having could be that they have never gone camping or hiking. What is a better way to teach them, then to plan a trip and show them just what camping and hiking are all about! Not to mention, you get some great quality time with your loved one in nature and enjoy a favorite past time of yours.

Convincing Loved Ones You’ll Be Safe

When you get down to it making sure your loved ones know you are safe consists of educating them and having great communication. When your loved ones know what to expect and that you know what you are doing, they will worry less and you will get to enjoy yourself on your adventure! If you have any tips make sure to comment them below!

Safety Items

Safety in the woods can mean a lot of different things from dealing with animals, humans and just emergency scenarios. Below are a few things that help keep you safe in various scenarios. Again, the number one thing is to have an itinerary that you can follow closely and communication with loved ones so they know when something is off and can get you help right away.

Bear Spray –