Hiking alone can be a serene experience but within the seeming calm of nature also lies danger. We often hear news of hikers being rescued from the San Gabriel Mountains or worse, killed while exploring its rugged wilderness.

Many books and wilderness experts will say the safety of hiking in small or a large group far outweighs the perks of being in the wilderness alone. However, planning a trek into the great outdoors can take lots of preparation and time, and for many with busy schedules it’s often difficult to coordinate the time to venture outdoors with other people.

I myself have experienced the same problem. When I first started hiking, I did so with my partner, Shawna Burreson, and we continued to do so even after our son was born.  

Hiking with our son wasn’t a problem when he was just a wee lad, but the more he grew, the more difficulty time we had taking him along on long distance journeys. Not only was he starting to weigh more, which made carrying him in the baby carrier on our backs more difficult, but his impatience was growing, too.

And as we delved deeper into the wild landscape surrounding civilized Los Angeles, it also became apparent that many hikes in the Angeles National Forest are simply too dangerous for us to want to bring our young one.

Both his mother and I realized that for the time-being, or at least until he reached an age where we could leave him for longer durations with other family members, we would just have to hike shorter distances and get our nature kicks together while car camping.

However, we both still longed for backpacking journeys, or at least hikes that were more than just a couple miles in length. We love to share nature with our child but we could no longer take those journeys together as a family unit.

Our long treks together had to be put on hold and we would both have to hike solo for a while. Around the same time, I also realized that a lot of my friends had different interests or schedules that didn’t always fit in with the longer hikes that I liked to take.

Soon, I found myself out on the trail all alone, which is a nice experience until one approaches a narrow portion of trail that is hanging over a gorge or cliff, and thoughts of falling and breaking a leg start crossing one’s mind.  If I fall, who will find me? If I can’t move, who will go for help?  In my time as a journalist, I covered enough stories where the outcome of such scenarios didn’t always end pleasantly.  They usually involved a rescue, an injury and, at worst, death.

The act of hiking alone did add more excitement to my journeys, not only for me, but also from my life partner, Shawna, who would often worry about my ability to find my way back to the trailhead.  She was always the better navigator of the two of us, a fact I am not ashamed of admitting now.  

However, one day while contemplating the conundrum of hiking long distances alone, I got a call from one of my editors asking me to look into a hiking group that was forming in the Santa Monica Mountains.

After a few calls, I found myself registering with the group on the website, meetup.com, and a few days later I met up with the group for a 10-mile hike along a portion of the Backbone Trail system in the Santa Monica Mountains.  I discovered that most of the group was in pretty much the same situation as me. They all liked hiking but didn’t have anyone to hike with on longer treks.

For instance, one woman, who was a nursing student, said that her busy schedule made it difficult for her to arrange hikes with friends, and that the group offered a series of preplanned hikes on their website that she could pick and choose from with no strings attached.

There were no annoying back and forth phone calls or miscommunication when it came to plans. One simply looked at the calendar, chose a hike and clicked whether they would be participating or not—simple.

Upon further research, I found a variety of hiking groups on meetup.com that focused on everything from backpacking long distances to short day hikes. Groups for people with autism, groups for seniors, groups for singles and, yes, even groups for parents who like spending time in nature were all available to me with the click of a mouse.

So for those of you out there who are a little apprehensive about being out there alone, look below for some links to groups that aim to explore the San Gabriel Mountains.

After all, the old adage still holds true: “there’s safety in numbers.”

Here are links to some groups to help get you started:

The San Gabriel Mountains Hike Group

Hiking and Wine in the Pines

Early Bird Hiking San Gabriel Mountains and Beyond