Solo works well if you're really driven, really selfish and really really careful. Keep in mind it's an awful lot of work! It's a big risk but the rewards are awesome. Not so much in photography as in personal ways. It will certainly change your perspective on both.

If your truly serious and have considered it long and hard, and are still considering it, DO IT! You won't regret it. The nice thing is you don't have to consider anyone but yourself and maybe your worth to those left at home.

The drawback is if your smart you won't take the same chances you would if you had reasonably immediate help. When you travel with others, you need to be responsible to them and their needs. Solo, you just need to make sure you can come back on time.

Rendezvous with friends are great if you can arrange them.

One canoe two people? I'd say that's the worst. Even if you're of "like minds" it's still hard. Remember, if you take the canoe out alone, and get stranded - their stranded, and really worried.

My first two trips were with huge groups of art students. By far the best, in my mind, is a large similarly inclined group. That's pretty rare.

Just find eight other people. People who can get along just fine without you. The kind who trust you and your abilities enough not to worry if your out by yourself and you don't come back until way after dark. (Dawn if the lights are dancing.) And if you aren't back in a reasonably defined window, people who know enough to realize which way the wind is blowing and if it pays to try and retrieve you or if it's simply wiser to smile and empathize with your miserable predicament and trust you to return on your own when the wind dies down.

Or, you can always do your normal trip. Just provide for some undisturbed alone time. Just like fishing, lots of keepers lurk around campsites. You don't always need to go far although you will probably want to. Just like fishing.

Posted by db on August 21, 2001 at 14:45
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