Alone in the Wild: The Nature Solo

07 May Alone in the Wild: The Nature Solo

Let’s face it- spending time alone in nature can be daunting for anyone who has never spend more than a day hiking in the woods. Spending four (or more!) days alone in the mountains with little to no food can be even scarier.

We’re not here to scare you away from having a life-changing experience, I promise. The simple fact of the matter is that when people think about doing a Wisdom Quest, often times the main point of concern is the nature solo. For those who didn’t grow up camping in the wilderness around bears and mountain lions, spending a night alone with nothing but a thin tent wall between yourself and the rest of the world can be pretty intimidating.

Naturally, everyone’s opinion of the nature solo is different because (surprise!) we’re all individuals, and we process our fears, lessons, and experiences in different ways. If you’re worried about going on a nature solo during your Wisdom Quest, or just want to read about another person’s experience for your own comfort, Jini Reddy (writer for Positive News) wrote an enlightening and honest synopsis of her nature solo in the Basque Pyrenees.

“I’m high atop Hartza Mendi (Bear Mountain), a sacred peak in the French Pyrenees, surrounded by waist-high ferns. Beyond them lies dense forest and a setting sun; intense ribbons of orange cloaking an undulating chain of more sacred peaks with quixotic names. I shiver in anticipation of the long night ahead.

Most people come to these lands to walk, for there is a poetic beauty to the Basque country: here are cascading mountains, sinuous waterfalls, emerald moss-cloaked forests and ancient cromlechs (stone structures).

For me there will be fewer footsteps and more repose, for I’m on a solo wilderness quest. A compulsion to hear nature’s voice, to connect with a living but non-human ‘otherness’ and to still an intangible but deeply-rooted need for belonging that, no matter how hard I try, can’t be answered amidst the distractions of modern life has led me here.”

(Excerpt from Alone in the Wild, written by Jini Reddy and published on Positive News. Find the full article here.)

To give some amount of comfort around heading out solo into nature during your Wisdom Quest- the Basque Pyrenees are relatively safe mountains, lacking the presence of bears, mountain lions, deadly spiders, etc. Although there may be some risks involved, so does everything worth doing.

Plus, who doesn’t love camping?