Hiking Safety: Female Hikers Need a Plan

Hiking safety begins before you leave for the trail head.

Your first step: Write out an itinerary, and leave it with someone you trust.

Pour over maps of the area.

Figure out how far you'll hike, where you can get water if you need it, what the terrain will be like.

Trail safety for women hikers involves using your head: knowing where you are, knowing what you can physically and mentally handle, knowing the signs to watch for in changing weather and terrain conditions, knowing ahead of time what you can use in your pack to wait out rough weather or doctor a wound until you can get help, and knowing when to turn around.

In other words, KNOWLEDGE.

Luckily, you can gain knowledge quite easily on this website and from other sources I recommend. Always follow the links, and dig into the wisdom.

Hiking safety is up to you, even if you always surround yourself with seasoned outdoors people.

What would you do if YOU were the only one capable of making decisions? For example: hypothermia strikes your hiking partners, and it's up to you to navigate out to the trail head.

Food for thought, no?

Mental issues may keep you from making good decisions. Handling trail stressors as they arise is an important skill to develop.

There may be physical problems that you need to avoid or handle appropriately when they arise: sunburn, hypothermia, altitude sickness, dehydration, contaminated drinking water, exhaustion, sunstroke, poisonous insects and plants, tick bites and snake bites, muscle sprains or strains, eye problems, failure to take prescription medication on time, navigational mix-ups or mistakes...

And unfortunately, safety for women hikers may also mean self defense.

What about safety for women hikers traveling through rattlesnake country?

Or a cougar sighting? (In my humble opinion, count yourself lucky! I have yet to see an entire cougar - only one tiny glimpse of a cougar backside disappearing into the brush.)

Also of concern: any woman hiking solo has probably had a conversation in her head about "vibes" when meeting a solo male hiker. I know some guys find this offensive ("Hey, why am I immediately suspect?"), but it's a cold, hard reality. Female solo hikers have been assaulted and killed.

What do you need to know to keep yourself from becoming a statistic?

At the very least, you need to stay aware of your surroundings.

Women who hike in groups or with one female companion tend to get chatty - nothing wrong with that, but someone needs to keep track of the time and the distance to the campsite (on multiple day adventures) or the agreed upon turn around time (on day hikes).

When you're solo, you're in charge of your own hiking safety: pacing yourself properly, remaining aware of how many hours of daylight are left in relation to how many miles of trail are in front of you.

In essence, you're making continuous decisions which impact your hiking safety, top to bottom, day and night.

If that thought overwhelms you, you're not quite ready for a solo trip.

Also, you should keep an eye on the sky. Cloud patterns and wind direction are billboards, telling you what the weather is doing. This is especially important in the mountains, where bad weather can whip up in a matter of minutes and make you cold and miserable.

I highly recommend basic hiking safety and first aid training, some rudimentary plant & animal identification training, survival tools, and deep familiarity with your gear.

Maybe you're wondering why I haven't mentioned technology yet.

Two reasons: I'm a stubborn, old school hiker who would rather rely upon tried and true methods and knowledge, rather than a battery powered gizmo. OK, I'm not that bad (or that old!). I do acknowledge that GPS can get you off a mountain in a swirling fog - if you can get a signal (Please, weather gods, align the satellites!).

Reason number two? Technology can convey a false sense of hope, or provide dangerous distractions, for some hikers. It's not a fool proof guarantee of hiking safety. Consider these recent examples.

I also make it a habit to review my "short list" of safety skills at the beginning of winter and summer hiking seasons, including a quick session of looking at photos of cloud patterns and living things that can make me itch or die.

I rummage through my pack and swap out seasonal items. Then I replace any expired items in my first aid kit . I throw away the fossilized turkey jerky at the bottom of my emergency bag & restock my stash of hard candy & lip balm.

And I pay particular attention to hiking safety items: headlamp, fire starter, all of the "ten essentials".

As I am doing these things, I remind myself to mentally review the knowledge that will keep me safe on the trail.

Sometimes that sends me over to the bookshelf to look up how to treat sunstroke, or how to avoid avalanche danger on a snowshoe trip.

And it keeps me confident in my knowledge base, should an emergency arise on the trail. What's in your head should "outweigh" what's in your pack!

In addition to regular first aid supplies, I carry some herbal & homeopathic items with me to deal with run-of-the-mill hiking problems: insect bites, sore muscles, eye irritation, irritated skin.

Recently, I used the eye drops to soothe my left eye after a bug used it as a heli-pad and became implanted within my lower eyelid. So I can recommend these items as not only portable, but extremely useful.

Would you like to know what my "alternative" first aid kit has in it? Use the contact form below, and I'll send you a .pdf copy! It might make a fun addition to your safety checklist. Safety for women hikers can be as simple as that!

Finished considering hiking safety? Return to the home page for more options.