Friday, April 15, 2011

Hiking alone

Last Sunday, i went hiking/camping alone. I have done a few hikes before and camped twice before. Never done it alone before.
In previous hikes i always found people hiking alone and i had wondered how it would be like to go all alone in a jungle. Well, thanks to US National park services, the trails even inside a jungle are very well maintained and thanks to over enthu junta here, you always see someone else hiking, so in reality you are not alone.

But hiking alone is a lot of fun. All by myself, i can pace myself and take a break whenever i can. Although, to my big surprise, i did not wanted to take break. I wanted to go on even when i was tired. Point Reyes is a beautiful place. I hiked 15 miles on Sunday and 3 miles on Monday while going from campsite to my car. On Sunday, half the distance was spent hiking in mountains or in forest over mountains and other half was a stroll on coastal trail which ran just beside the bay. Tough to choose which one is better but it is great that one can do both kind of hikes at Pt. Reyes.

Next was camping. I had little fear on how to set up a tent, i had never done it before and by the looks of it, it did require some knowledge on how tents work :) Let me state here on record that my tent stood up the entire night with me cozily sleeping inside it. I was dead tired after the hike so i went to my tent pretty early. The sky was still blue when i slept but i woke up several times during night. I used to wake up, see the open sky above me, see stars and then sleep back again. One of the most peaceful sleeps that i can remember. Camping is a great feeling. Some pictures are embedded below -

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