Freewill

The two of us (one Jeep) have probably covered most of Anza Borrego/Ocotillo Wells, Kofa Wildlife Reserve, much of Death Valley, and a bunch of other areas solo. There are limits to the obstacles and routes we will try alone. Like, we would not do Pinyon Valley Road > Fish Creek solo.

The Jeep is about as well equipped for recovery/repair as possible, and we carry enough supplies for 3-4 days if the worst happens. Radios and phones, of course, but they are sketchy in the back country.

Compared to the days driving alone for 50-100 miles between pit stops in winter in the Canadian north, a few miles off-road in the warm southwest seems pretty tame. Carpe Diem!!

grizzled

No, you just moved 500 miles north to Montana. I consider a wheeling trip highly successful when I don't see another rig and some places my wife and I go that happens maybe 50% of the time. As for solo, like expressed elsewhere here, if we waited for another party to join us, we wouldn't get much off-road time. We go solo for probably 75% of our adventures and have been doing that for more than 50 years. Never had an occasion where we couldn't Mcgyver things back together well enough to at least get to the trail head. Boy Scout or not, the motto is "be prepared". I will not wheel anything without a winch and OBA+welder are on my usual solo trail rig (CJ3B). We always have the backpacks along and could comfortably camp out for a week or more if necessary. I also pack a bunch of tools and enough pieces to patch most stuff back together.

As a final thought, those trail tools are more than worthless if they break 20 miles from nowhere. Leave the Harbor Freight versions home a take real ones. The price of an occasional lost quality socket or wrench is WAY cheaper than an extraction.

dan3jeeps

Doesn't bother me to wheel alone, camp alone, hunt alone, hike alone... I enjoy the solitude.

That said, I am not going somewhere where I am likely to break parts leaving me stranded. If something does break and I cannot trail repair it, I put on a backpack and hike out. It only expands the adventure.

TheDirtman

Last time out I wheeled alone with a guy from out of town just to show him around and ended up side down on a relatively easy looking decline. Having another vehicle would have saved the situation and some repair costs.