A Week of Solitude in the Forest

The lake below started for me as a small blue marking on a map surrounded by green.

“I wonder if I could get here!”

There were no trails leading in and an internet search found nothing on the lake.

“Perhaps this is where I could be alone.”

But I was afraid. The maps showed a steep climb from 3,000 feet up to 4,000 and back down and these are lands I was unfamiliar with.

I had the support of a friend who knew the region and not only brought me to the trailhead, not only walked the three miles up the trail with me, but entered and navigated the uncharted forest that led us to this peak.

Freedom, solitude and silence lay ahead. Daniel returned to his wife and young child and I descended alone into the uncertainty.

As soon as I arrived, I knew that I was at the precipice of entering a twenty-year goal.

No other human would enter this space. Nobody would find me here.

Seven nights of solitude, not a single sight or sound of another human body or voice. No computer, no phone, no way to reach the outside world or to be reached.
No electronics, not even a headlamp and not a light in the sky.

I had 6.5 pounds of wild rice and a very modest amount of dried venison, mushrooms and salt.

I did not know what to expect, but I’ve always believed that being truly alone in deep nature would alter my mind. Alter my very being.

I became a human animal out there. I entered into the flow and rhythm of this microcosm of Earth with the interconnected community of plants, animals, insects and elements.

With pencil on paper I wrote:

On evening 5: “I hear the mosquitoes and bees buzzing, the fluttering of wings, trout splashing, a bird with an almost eerie shrill call and the great owl has started up again. A moment of interconnectedness with it all. Interbeing … a dissolution of the separateness. I am, in this moment, a part of it all.”

“It’s a bit unnerving being here in this altered state of mind. Dissolving self into this space, with nobody here but me. I see how an untrained mind could lose it out here. And how a trained mind could attain oneness with all life.”

Night 6: “If I was mentally blindfolded to my experience and asked if I had eaten some magic berries out here, I would lean towards yes.”

I wrote extensively of my experience and will be sharing more in the days ahead.

Read: A Week of Solitude in the Forest – Deep Connection with Earth

Love,
Robin