feminist solitary hiking project

About 1-2 times a year, I will offer the Pre-hike workshop + alone but together- 6 day-group-hike for a small group (2 participants) + reflection meeting combination, what means I would be also taking part at the hike.

For whom? Women*/Flinta*, who are beginners OR/AND struggle with obstacles of going hiking alone / sleeping alone in a tent.

In the pre-hike workshop we will not only go through basic-hiking skills, get familiar with the trail and you can rent all the basic hiking gear, but we will prepare also emotionally on hiking alone, reflecting for example on how to deal with the feeling of fear while hiking alone.

The “alone but together”- group hike gives you then the possibility to make first steps in hiking alone in your own pace, knowing that your guide (me) and your fellow hiker is always near to support, if needed (read more below).

In the reflection meeting we go through all trail days, reflecting together with some distance from the experience, what we have learned and take with us in our daily life & our future hikes. What solitary hiking as a feminist practice means for each of us. Base for the reflection are your notes from your hiking diary and from a reflection template you can fill out after the hike. As you will hike with a GPS-device what tracks your hike, we can also analyze the hikes throughout the trail-lines. This doesn’t only explain, why you might have gotten lost one time, show your own type and strength of navigation, but does also mean a lot of fun, as these lines will tell a lot of stories.

Additionally I plan to offer at the beginning of the hiking season a shorter form of the pre-hike workshop and in the end of the season the reflection meeting. Group size: 4-6

In the month in between, hikers could you hiking alone. You would also get the reflection template, what is then the base/structure for our meeting in the end, connecting trail stories & thoughts on solitary hiking as a feminist practice.

For whom? Experienced women*/flinta* hikers, who have their own gear & are curious to become a part of this solitary hiking sisters* community and on hiking on a DIY-trail to nearby nature and/or want to share/reflect on strategies how to deal with obstacles like fear while hiking alone.

The pre-workshop will also include reflections and strategies how to deal with fear while hiking alone. So this could be an opportunity to share former experience, find new ways to deal with that fear you might have felt while hiking alone. Or if fear was until now a reason you didn’t went yet on your solo-adventure, I hope the workshop could enable you to do so.

For 2027 I search for experienced hikers, who want to support the project and test the concept, with only a short 1:1 meeting with me, before and after the hike. You will get the trailguide-booklet and the reflection template etc.. If this interests you, please contact me.]

The concept could be a first step into solitary hiking and/or enable a shared hiking experience although you hike mostly on your own.

It’s adjustable to the needs and wishes of the group members and could look like this:

• Hiking the first half day together and then splitting. The first night could be spend next to each other and we could go together through the evening/morning routines. So you can just focus on getting confident with the gear and the routines, without having the sleeping alone experience at the same time.
• After that you could decide to be the next four nights on your own or choose a night together in between, depending on your needs
• Every evening we will share our tent location, a picture of our tent spot and a short update through a chat-group, as well as an update in the morning on how the night was and when we are about to continue
• You might still meet sometimes on the day by coincident. This should offer the possibility to have a small chat if you feel like, but then you can continue in your own rhythm. If it’s more important for you to not meet while hiking, you could decide on different route options and sleeping spots the trailguide-booklet offers.

As I will also hike the trail at the same time & I would be continiously available for support, if needed. From being at first days more present and then letting you make your own experience step by step throughout the hike. From hiking an offtrail part together to setting my tent next to yours, meeting in between for practical or emotional support, having a short call, or get support through messaging. I know the trail by heart and can support from near and far.

Why letters?

The base of this project is an about 6-day long DIY-trail near Helsinki. Each hiking day has its own topic. They deal with the obstacles Flinta* experience when it’s about “hiking alone” as well as the wide spectrum of hiking as a joyful and empowering feminist practice.

I filled these chapters with what I found in my research and my own experience. The idea of the project is to encourage to go hiking alone, but on the other hand it should offer a space to connect with others and share thoughts and experiences on these topics.

As writing is also an essential part of the whole project, I caught fire for the idea of collecting these different experiences as letters. That also those can share their experiences and ideas, who just hiked the trail alone without taking part in a group workshop.

A letter template gives all the letters a common structure, asking questions on the trail experience and on own thoughts about the connected topics. Still the letter concept gives the writers much more freedom in answering these questions through expressing thoughts in a more creative way of writing, than for example listing points in different categories of the website.

As this might sound a bit abstract in “letters to my solitary hiking sister*” you can read in the first letter concrete experiences about the “alone but together”-group hiking concept and how writing is a part of the experience/process. The letter is also available as an audio file.