I have only done one solo trip, it was two years ago and I’m getting excited because I’ve chiseled some time out for a 5 day solo this summer. I can’t wait, lots of miles, but hopefully I’ll see some areas that other people rarely get to and I’m also hoping to get into some fish. Back to the topic of this thread...I found myself talking/narrating during my solo trip all the time. I have no idea why and I kept telling myself to stop, but I just couldn’t. In my defense, I was filming parts of my trip, but I was talking just as much when I wasn’t filming. Do any of you have this tendency as well? Or am I the creepy one talking to himself out in the woods as others paddle by thinking I’m crazy?

Tony

Hell no! Some of the best conversations I have are with myself.

butthead

If I find I'm talking to myself, I just take my hearing aids out . . . :)

Sometimes I talk to the birds, but that's for the birds . . .

Other times I talk to the wind . . . but the answer to that's blowin' in the wind

It seems like you're the only in your group that's worried about it . . . so don't worry. Have a good trip! Get a recorder and record it - I'm sure we'd find the narrative interesting.

Sorry, I couldn't resist. Enjoy your trip man! :)

People usually think I am talking to my dog. I just let them go on thinking that.

No, I don't talk to myself. After an extended solo trip, it takes a significant effort to get my voice back. I find myself whispering to the first people I see after leaving the wilderness.

I only say two things to myself (and unfortunately too regularly, whether tripping or otherwise)--"Dumb shit", or "That was stupid".

I'll talk to my dog and ask her opinion on things but I'm usually pretty quiet otherwise.

I have only done one solo. I did talk to the gods out loud about the crappy weather and I talked to birds and squirrels. I don't think I really talked to myself out loud much but sometimes I would be thinking something and I wasn't sure after if I said it out loud or in my head. To me a solo was so quiet even my thoughts seemed loud I guess. It was a long solo and I loved it!

The internal chat is always there. Learning when to pay attention to it and when to ignore it is what makes each solo so special.

This is a funny subject. I catch myself blurting out phrases like I am talking to someone next to me.

In the evening around a campfire I hear a noise in the woods.
"What the fuck was that?"

Paddling on a lake with such beauty only a poet could describe.
"Thank you Lord for my life"

On a portage trail and a grouse will not let me pass.
"Hey buddy!"

MReid: "I only say two things to myself (and unfortunately too regularly, whether tripping or otherwise)--"Dumb shit", or "That was stupid"."

Haaahaahaha. I do the exact same! And like you, probably far too often.

You're solo! Who else you gonna talk to? :)

On my first solo I realized about noon on day one,that I was the only person I had to talk to, but I had no interest in listening to what I had to say.

I find that I talk to my boat, as in "I'll be right back" (when making the first trip across a portage with the pack), That sort of thing.

In order to avoid talking to myself I:
Talk to the birds;
Talk to the trees;
Talk to my video recorder;
you see - there are lots of ways to avoid talking to yourself in the wilderness: I was fortunate enough to not see a single person on the portage in all the way to the portage out - so I talked alot, just not to myself! (it was only 4 days and 3 nights)

I'm the only one there. Takes a short time, but I always end up talking to myself. I do it at work all day, seems only natural that I would do it at other times too. There are a lot of the 'why did you do that dumbass?' kinds of things. Paddle more on x side, remember to J-stroke, watch the rocks! It's all good, you're not alone

Jaywalker: "People usually think I am talking to my dog. I just let them go on thinking that. "

Ha ha ha! I need to get a dog now.

I've lost arguments with myself.....

I talk to myself and also my version of a Wilson from the movie Castaway, which is a small stuffed Pooh Bear. He's been riding around in my various vehicles and tripping we me for a good 30 years.

tumblehome: "This is a funny subject. I catch myself blurting out phrases like I am talking to someone next to me.


In the evening around a campfire I hear a noise in the woods.
"What the fuck was that?"


Paddling on a lake with such beauty only a poet could describe.
"Thank you Lord for my life"


On a portage trail and a grouse will not let me pass.
"Hey buddy!""

Lol. I say random stuff out loud like this too!
I also have found myself singing on multiple occasions.
For the most part I’m a fairly quiet person otherwise.

On a group trip I will say hello to whoever I might meet on a portage.
On a solo, well, that is another story.
A number of years ago I was on a week late fall trip to the Q and hardly saw a soul. On a portage near Cairn Lake somewhere I ran into another solo guy on a portage. We stood and talked for at least 20 minutes in the middle of the portage. With our canoes on our backs...............

Talking to yourself is overrated. It's only when you answer that it gets interesting!

As a rule - no. however, when I was on my 32 day solo years back in Woodland Caribou I was hurt and stuck on peninsula for 15 days. I started to get lonely ... so every day for about 45 minutes or so, I would go "visiting". I would imagine having a conversation with my wife or a buddy of mine etc and would "visit" them. Thinking out loud might be a better way to describe it. It made me feel better anyway.

It did not make me any crazier than I was already either, but helped me from being depressed while I was injured and stuck.

Bob.

I will also blurt things or sing a bit rarely knowing more than a few phrases of a song. In conversation though I am more of a listener so I usually have to ask myself a question to really get things started.

I talk to myself, or think to myself quite a bit. I talk to my wife, too, and she tends to listen a lot more when I'm solo tripping. :)

Frenchy said it really well...
"The internal chat is always there. Learning when to pay attention to it and when to ignore it is what makes each solo so special."

Quieting my mind is the most difficult part of the trip, but after a few days it starts to happen.

I am probably in the smaller group that has only solo'ed on all trips (only like 15) but I def will talk out loud from time to time, but I guess this is normal. I and sure I will chat myself up on Oyster this July!

I don't talk to myself on solos, but I do talk a lot. One of these days those damn fire grates are going to respond to me.

I tend to be an introvert/loner type and don't much like being around people let alone talk to them. But I do like myself and have been known to strike up a conversation with me, myself, and I. One time, on Alder Lake, me got good and pissed at I, and the f-bombs started flying back and forth. Myself was a little concerned, but then things got mellow when a nice Lake Trout got on the line. Me and I made up, and myself went along merrily like nothing happened.

All dorkiness aside, I have been known to talk to my gear on solo trips when things don't 'work' as intended.

I just chat with my buddy “Flappie”. Kinda quiet, but a very good listener. Really lousy cribbage player.

I'll talk to myself in my head but not out loud.
I do tend to get stupid songs stuck in my head that may last 1/2 a day.
That gets annoying.

LindenTree: "I'll talk to myself in my head but not out loud.
I do tend to get stupid songs stuck in my head that may last 1/2 a day.
That gets annoying."

OMG YES! The songs..... Sometimes it doesn't stop. It can be motivating on portages sometimes.

On my first solo two years ago I found myself talking to myself out loud sometimes. Mostly had to do with safety issues like "take it easy here" or "don't do anything stupid with the saw/knife" or the usual "dumb ass" after I did something stupid......stuff like that. However I will sometimes talk to the various critters I encounter with a pleasant verbal greeting as long as I won't bother them. Why not? They're usually talking to or about me :)

Safe travels.......Mike

TipsyPaddler: "I just chat with my buddy “Flappie” Kinda quiet but a very good listener. Really lousy cribbage player.


"

Lol! But that poker face!

Had a lot of convos with Jake the drake. Solo trippin' buddy.