Hiking and Backpacking Solo - Trail Tip 25.

[Aaron Zagrodnick]

Know your route - When planning a solo trip, you have to be able to rely on yourself to get from point a to point b. Some trips may be in your backyard and you know every turn, others may be in new territory and completely off trail. You should feel the same confidence for both if you've done your homework. There are a plethora of mapping and routing resources available to give you this confidence, no matter how remote you will be...

@tmountainnut with tips on solo hiking and backpacking - take a look in Issue 25:

Solo Hiking

Issue 25 Page 1

[seano]

Indeed, "anything worth doing is worth doing solo."

One caveat: it may be misleading to say "there is an open line to a cell tower and/or a satellite anywhere in the world."  I think a PLB or sat-phone will work pretty much anywhere under any conditions (though I have never owned either), but in my experience cell coverage is way too spotty to rely on for even basic communication, much less emergency use.  Plenty of places don't have line-of-sight to a cell tower, and calls may not go through even from some that do (e.g. the summit of Mount Whitney, last I checked).