Solitude is an amazing gift. Loneliness is the worst kind of curse. In the backcountry, whether one experiences solitude or loneliness can be decided by a wide variety of factors. Are you out of water and very thirsty? Are the mosquitoes so bad that you can't ever stop for a break? Are you lost? Are you exhausted? If you can answer yes to these questions you can sometimes find that loneliness can creep up on you.
I think everyone wishes to fashion themselves a content Buddhist Monk who can transcend all suffering -- but this is not easy to do. Spending long amounts of time by yourself, left to your own thoughts be they positive or negative or both, is a project that always brings plenty of challenges. Even "positive thinking" can have its shortfalls as the backcountry constantly demands a shrewd and sober eye on everything all the time.
One of the things I like best about backcountry travel is that my experiences there force me to face these questions. So many times, I feel my "regular" life, which is blessed in so many ways, can allow me, through day to day repetition, to lose track of just how lucky I really am. It is through contrast that I discover (or am reminded) what I have momentarily lost and what I desire to have again.
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