solo hiking in the dark

welcome to introspection ft. harsehaj! ⭐️ i’m harsehaj, an 18 y/o always up to something in social good x tech.

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onto today’s topic: solo hiking in the dark 🌙 

january 9th marked the very first day of our hike up mount kilimanjaro.

it also marked the day i found myself hiking alone as the sun set and i was completely alone for 2 hours in the dark.

to be honest, we went diving headfirst into this hike with minimal safety instructions. the agency we were with didn’t talk about solutions for certain situations like getting lost, injury protocol, high altitude or any of the sort in detail (considering one of our group members got hace on this trip … this might have been a good idea). ⛺️ 

so, when i was left hiking alone somewhere in between the faster group and slower group, i didn’t know if i was lost or if i was just victim to a huge gap in pace between the two groups.

after the torrential downpour we all experienced, it was really nice to be alone for that first hour. the sun was out, and i was enjoying the alone time after spending the previous 2 days getting to know 10 new people.

you guys already know that i’m a major ambivert, so it was pleasant taking in the beautiful scenery all around at my own pace. well, it was great until it got dark and i was dumping out my daypack onto the muddy trail and scrambling to find my headlamp. 🔦 

i couldn’t see 5 feet away in any direction and there was nobody in sight — not even any of the 50+ staff we were traveling with. my head was filled with a stream of curses and “where am i? what do i do?” but my legs kept pumping because i only had one good option: keep going forward.

1 hour later, i was still hiking uphill in the dark and hadn’t yet seen a single person. all i had was hope and a belief that i was on the right track, and thank god i was. finally, 2 hours and 20 minutes into my solo hike arc, i saw another headlamp in the distance. at this point, i was both mentally and physically exhausted. the headlamp was one of our agency’s porters, and i stuck myself to him. 🤞 

i asked him, “are we close to the camp?”

“yes, 10 minutes away.”

80 goddamn minutes later (😭) , we finally reached the camp where i found the first group. i was immediately drowned in a wave of relief and i felt so accomplished.

the first day was the hardest after summit day. all the days in between felt like light work.

the lessons? 1) solo hiking is fun while the sun is out.

2) just keep going.

daily opportunity + resource drops 🔍️