What’s better, hiking alone or with other people? “Depends how many bears are involved,” is one quip. Perhaps it depends on what kind of person you are. Hiking solo is a markedly different experience ...

I was hiking alone in Boulder this past spring when a man came toward me on the trail, a jagged, baseball-sized rock in each hand. He was in his sixties, I guessed, the same age as me, and he wore ...