Feeling ill on a trip is a very tricky issue to handle.
I've woken just feeling utter crap and knowing I was going to hold up the rest of the group, I persuaded themto let me walk out, on my own, the easy way down the valley. But the trip leader was rightly reluctant to let me.
And the person feeling crook really doesn't want to impose on the others in the group either. I certainly didn't want to spoil the others day with my lack of get up and go. In that instance I judged I wasn't actually ill, I just hadn't recovered enough from the day before and wasn't fit enough to keep up.
And like you Honora, by the time I had actually walked out ... nice and leisurely ... I was feeling quite ok.
On the other hand, imagine if my lassitude had been the pre-cursor to something more serious. All sorts of complications could have arisen once we had split up. And regardless the outcome, no-one wants to live with all the recriminations and guilt.
But certainly if I had been anywhere near pulling the pin on the PLB, I would NEVER have asked to let the group split up.
This post has been edited by the author on 21 December 2015 at 20:04.
Another reason why I prefer to tramp alone.
so no one can leave you behind ha ha ha
Exactly hahaha.
I leave myself where ever I am.
But honestly I'd carry your old butt out hahaha
I've enjoyed quite a few solo tramps. The longest was 10 days.
There is a great deal to be said for it, and I especially enjoy the sense of personal responsibility, the almost meditative sense of calm and caution that comes over me. I become acutely aware of just how I'm only one simple error or misstep away from a major problem at every moment. It's a feeling you never get when surrounded by other people.
Yet solo has it's own limitations as well. You haven't eliminated your responsibility to other people; just shifted it out of your immediate awareness. And I do find that I tend to make better and bolder decisions when I've got other people to bounce them off and support each other in.
And I do know a couple of people, Gregory Ross of the Permolat Group for example, who've had accidents while on their own, and have decided in hindsight that the risk is no longer worth the reward. Sometimes it's a damn long way to drag your 'butt' out when it's all turned to custard!
This post has been edited by the author on 21 December 2015 at 19:35.
And here's Gregory Ross' quote: and I will push my
luck no more with solo tramping but will go with others, unless tramping to such easier and well-known to me places as Crow Hut or Carrington Hut, but only if I'm carrying a locator beacon.
We can never walk in each other's boots I guess.
It's a personal thing and I've often wondered why I enjoy to explore the earth alone and why I'm feel a close affinity with others who feel the same way.
There's been quite a few times I've felt that rush of feeling "oh shit, I'm in trouble now". But I love it. I love the feeling of having to suss things out, to call the shots that will ultimately lead to my success or demise. It's a rush that I don't get elsewhere in life.
I always look back on those moments and they are the high light reel of my life and I wouldn't change a thing.
My friends family and loved ones don't get it. Some do, but don't want to push themselves to those places themselves but they get why I do, then there's the few that do and we just push each other all the time.
It's all chemicals I guess.
But if I couldn't get out there and stride new territory and discover new places on my own I don't think I would want to live.
@Gaiters
There was a moment some years ago when I jumped off a rock into the dark flow of the Cascade, pack-floating my way through a deep, twisty gorge sight unseen. I remember just the instant before, looking up at the magnificence all around, and thinking if this was to be the end where better to do it?
Yes it was a gamble, but also a treasured memory. And like you I wouldn't change a thing.
This post has been edited by the author on 21 December 2015 at 22:25.
Too much philipW.
That's exactly why I do it.
If you enjoy going in a group of ten, alone, or don't like going at all thats cool.
But I'm all for those moments, that bought a smile to my face and I'm looking forward to Boxing Day.
Crossing razor sharp eroded ridgelines before sliding down spear grass filled scree slopes. Walking down a ruahine river alone for a couple hours wading through chest high pools and ankle deep trickles rounding a bend and there's a mighty stag sipping from the kawhatau. Looking at each other for a moment before it bounds off up the steep slip face. Looking at my dog and just feeling that rush.
