Last week, I wrote an article describing an incident I experienced on a local hiking trail. I encountered a single female hiker on a remote trail. The woman had a large skinning knife in her hand. In the article I discussed how I handled the situation and what I might have done to handle a similar situation better in the future.
When I posted the article to my Patreon feed, one of my subscribers asked the following questions:
“As a young woman who often hikes remote-ish trails alone, I’m curious to also hear your analysis of the other side of this situation. Assuming that the reason she pulled the knife was indeed that she felt threatened by you (have you heard any of the man vs bear discourse lately?), what would have you advised her or someone in her position to do differently? I definitely think visibly pulling a knife isn’t the answer, but taking some level of precaution might be warranted. I especially feel unclear on how to proceed when passing male hikers try to strike up conversation with me (more than a quick “have a nice hike” or something)… it’s probably friendly, but I’d rather not chat and also feel like it can be an excuse to get closer than I feel comfortable with.”
I think it was an excellent question. Here is my response and my advice for all you solo hikers (either male or female).
I think the most important aspect of the analysis is realizing that although a single female is very vulnerable in that situation, the chance that the male hiker she passes on the trail has plans to assault her are infinitesimally low (but not non-existent).
I really think that passing a hiker with a lethal weapon (gun, knife, etc) in hand may cause more problems than it prevents. Most likely the dude she is passing has no designs to hurt her. But if he sees her openly carrying a weapon and approaching him, he might draw his own weapon and escalate the situation to a dangerous level just to protect himself. That’s a far more likely scenario than a woman actually needing to have a weapon in hand to deter or repel an attack.
You don’t want to be attacked in the woods, but you also don’t want to be shot by an ignorant or untrained dude carrying a gun who gets scared when he sees you with a weapon in hand.
I think the best practice for a vulnerable hiker is to have a concealed lethal force weapon (knife or gun) that she can draw if needed. To be more ready for a physical attack, she could easily conceal a POM pepper spray in her hand. She could also have a stout walking stick in her hand as an improvised weapon that wouldn’t freak anyone out. Even carrying one of the large bear spray dispensers in hand wouldn’t cause a negative reaction in most of the people she might pass.
The stick or the spray will give her an instant response option that might either stop the attack or buy her time to access a more effective weapon if the situation turns violent.
As for the unwanted conversation, I have two tips. I normally hike with one earbud in. I keep one ear open to hear people approaching or rattlesnakes. When someone starts talking and I don’t want to engage, I’ll point to the earbud and say “Sorry, I can’t hear you.” as I keep walking away.
The other thing you can do is to point at your watch and say “I can’t talk. I’m trying to beat my hike time from last week on this trail” as you speed away.
These are important concepts that the lone outdoor hiker should consider well in advance of any potential confrontation.
I asked AI to come up with a photo of the woman I described in the story. There are a couple of details that aren’t perfectly correct, but I was pleasantly surprised. You can get the story’s vibe by imagining something similar to this.
