I am new to soloing but have been looking forward to my first for a long time. I initially started to plan for a one month trip early next spring. I have now realized that I should do a shorter one before I attempt my month long solo.
I have decided to do a 5 day solo in October, just to get my feet wet and see if I will actually enjoy it. I am planning on heading up to Winchell lake and around there.

I guess my real reason for this post was to find out what is the longest you all have gone solo and are there trip reports? It would be nice to read what people start thinking on day 10 or 20.
-thanks, Josh

I'm working on my trip report, it's pretty short. I'll let you know when it's done. Smart thing, tho, to try it out for a few days before committing to a month in the wilderness :)

Nice thing about solos. they seem to stretch and twist time- five days is a good length to start with, especially in October. The longest I've gone is nine days without seeing another human- after day three or so I have to start counting back to figure out what day of the trip I'm on, or what day it actually is. Twenty days would be an interesting experiment- but way too much to carry.

Planning on 12 days in mid-October.

I usually do a 5 night 6 day solo trip. Its hard to get larger blocks of time off from work. Also I think the wife would get mad if I used all my vacation days for a solo trip. You must be a teacher to be able to plan a month long solo trip. I would love to try one some time. Enjoy your trip.

tony

I started soloing 10 years ago in Wisconsin's northern flowages - basically car-camping by canoe, since there are no portages there. I would plan for 4-5 nights and leave after only 3. My first BW solo was shortened by weather, but the next two were 9 nights (10 days) each. I've tried to capture my experience in trip reports; perhaps they'll help give you some idea of the kinds of issues and obstacles you might face.

The advice you've gotten so far about 5 nights sounds good to me. I'll be interested in hearing how it went.

I've often romantasized the idea of a month long solo, but the reality is that I'm ready to come out after night 8 or so. I've done 4 - week long trips to the BW.

It's hard being married and all, but someday I'd like to go for 2 weeks with my dog through Quetico. The dog will hopefully smooth out the loneliness.

If you want to read a great solo trip report, then read UncleMoose's 19 day Quetico trip. It has great pictures and some good writing. After reading this report, it really gave me a sense of what it is like to spend more then just a week out soloing.

UncleMoose A Quetico Solo

Good Length to start-especially in Fall.

The long nights and short days make it a little harder on your soul.

The nice thing about solos is you can decide when it is the right time to do everything, including leaving early if you accomplished your goal.

Five days is the perfect amount for your first time (and in IMHO for most other times as well). After fives I start to loose track of the day. I thought I could keep track of days by meals - How many suppers I used for instance. But the problem was that I started to mix my meals arround. I'd eat lunch items for breakfast so I could get an ealier start and have oatmeal for lunch. If I decided to stay an extra day in camp, I'd sometimes have supper for breakfast and then have another supper later that day.

4-5 days has always been enough for me. I found out early that I slipped from the 'routine' - eating certain foods at certain times of the day, setting specific goals for travel for each day, etc. And, I discovered that most of the enjoyment of the trip was living each day much different than back in the 'routine world'.

quote Minnesotian: "If you want to read a great solo trip report, then read UncleMoose's 19 day Quetico trip. It has great pictures and some good writing. After reading this report, it really gave me a sense of what it is like to spend more then just a week out soloing.


UncleMoose A Quetico Solo"

Thanks, that is a really awesome report.

Thanks for all the input everyone! It is very helpful!

mine were around 12 to 13 days to fit with the two week vacation i was limited too.but i had a second two week'er in the fall for a month a year.i found by day ten i was so into it that if i had enough food i could do another week.by ten all the camp chore were automatic along with the paddle and portaging.married and older i sort of drift back in around day ten or so.when i talked my supervisor into a three weeks i was out for seventeen days and by the end i felt like i was living in the woods.

Check out a trip report from UncleMoose.

So... How did your October trip go?

I have done 10 to 14 day solo's. It's amazing how fast they go. I can never believe I'm coming out when I do. I have a 20 day trip in August... we'll see how that goes.

Check out pineknots two part, 11 day report here: part one part two

It's a long, well written report with good photos.

I fantasize often about taking a long solo trip. I can't wait for the day that I do.

Exo also wrote a great 10 day report here: 10 day solo

I haven't seen any really long solo reports yet. But I am sure there is one on here somewhere.

Read the Uncle Moose report. It sets the stadard for a long solo.

Here's another real good one from Banksiana

I hope he doesn't mind me posting the link.