Field notes from a solo camp (under a tarp!)

And a somewhat terrifying wildlife encounter.

Have you ever camped by yourself in the wild?

I hadn’t until December of last year, at the tender age of thirty-five. It was an experience that was both exhilarating and terrifying.

Last year, I had two big nature-related goals to tick off the list of life achievements.

The first was completing a multi-day hike. While it was a well-marked, well-trod and well-managed track, I knew it would be a challenge for both my body and my mind.

I don’t have any photos from this particular trip, so we will all have to use our imaginations.

One of my feet was annoyingly hit by plantar fasciitis in 2022. Recovery has taken over two years and rendered everything from my hips down very stiff, despite many hours of yoga.

And walking for kilometres with a giant 65L pack strapped to your back, particularly in 30°C+ heat (for American readers, that’s a translation of 86°F+) is an interesting undertaking.

My second goal was to spend the night outdoors, on my own. Helpfully, this was a requirement of the nature immersion course I’d been undertaking for the majority of 2024. With one caveat – there would be no sleeping in even the most lightweight of hiking tents.

Instead, we were encouraged to shelter under tarps. Completely open to the elements. Of which Australia notably has a few.

I achieved both these goals and now, inevitably, am hooked on both multi-day hiking and solo camping, probably for life. What a tragedy.

I’m also quite interested in how I can feed myself some varied and delicious meals on this future adventures… particularly as I now have an appliance for dehydrating meals. Hrmmm.

Anyway, digression. This solo camp was something I was dithering on writing about. Parts of it felt personal, and these parts, I’ll keep to myself.

However, I ended up with a cracking story, one which I feel the need to share in this space.

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A solo camp, in the wild

In the lead up to this solo adventure, I was feeling nervous about three things.

First up, the weather. Naturally, the two days either side of camping day were forecast as sunny! lovely! mild! days.

The day of the camp? Apparently there was rain, ‘possible damaging winds’ and thunderstorms on the cards. Cool!