INTRO
There is a process that tends to occur in the lead up to a solo wilderness excursion. It all begins with the awakening of a strong desire to visit a place, to experience it first hand. It might be born out of a story we have heard, or a photograph we have seen. The result is a growing resolution to visit the place, regardless of the effort required to reach it. Some wild places are well guarded by fast-flowing rivers, thick forests and precipitous slopes. We may be resolved, but the place will ask us in no uncertain terms: Are you willing to pay the cost of passage?
I
The reason we end up going solo may be simple. We may fail to find another person who has the same desire to go to the place we have resolved to visit. This is not to say that other people won’t want to go there, but that we have simply not been
