Initiating a rescue?

[sardog1]

Bob T has pretty much everything in his list that a search manager would want to know. If you want to pare it down, here is a shorter list:

Name
Physical description -- age, race, height, weight
Description of vehicle including license plate number
Anticipated parking place
Anticipated return home or contact time
Cell phone number, if any
Exterior clothing, including footwear size and type of sole if possible
Equipment carried, especially pack color if any
Type of activity -- hiking, skiing, snowshoeing, hunting, etc.
Planned objective(s) for the activity
Experience in that activity, particularly re: navigation and traveling in the terrain at issue
Health issues and medications -- be candid!
Names and descriptions of others in the party
24 hour phone contact for authorities

Do not call the state police in NH or VT. Do not call Fish and Game. Do not call the Maine Warden Service. Do not call the AMC. Call 911. It's the only place where you can be assured that your call will be recorded and the phone will always be answered. The 911 dispatcher will get the word to the agency with the legal responsibility for conducting the SAR operation.

 

[Bob T]

sardog1, I researched which phone number to use for my situation (Ammonoosuc Watershed). I called NH F&G and then the Twin Mountain State Police Barracks. They both agreed it should be the Twin Mountain SP. Just sayin'. Of course 911 would get you there as well and works unconditionally in any location.

Edit to add: the main reason I was concerned with 911 is that my mission control is in VT and sometimes in Boston. I liked the idea of them talking to humans near where I was so when mission control said the words "North Twin" or whatever the guy/gal on the phone would grok immediately that this was in their zone and they were on the hook for it.

 

[Little Rickie]

24 hrs on a weekend campout to the Adirondacks. I leave on Friday early am, out of the woods Sunday. I usually call home when I'm in cell phone range while driving home.

I leave a map for my wife with my trails highlighted and where I plan to sleep. My wife said she wouldn't worry if I was delayed since I prepare well and she has confidence in me.

If I felt too tired to finish hiking out I'd bivy/campout for the fun of it but I'd have to be real tired not to be able to shuffle along. I'd just rest more often and keep moving, depending on how far it is I have to go to get out and the weather.

On a day hike if I wasn't back by supper, without calling, I'd think she would worry.

 

[Chip]

. Since I'm the one making the route plan, setting the pace, and making the decision when to turn back, I have a pretty good idea what sort of thing would delay me seriously. And going solo means that that "sort of thing" needs an early response, not a later one.

I'm with sardog1 on this. I voted 2 hours. This would be for winter solo's only. In summer or if I'm with someone else in winter, my wife doesn't care, assumes I'm drinking beer and out of cell range. If I'm more than 2 hours overdue, she'd make the call regardless of my "plan", even though she knows I'm always prepared to spend the night. This is the major reason I hardly ever solo in the winter anymore: too much stress worrying about distances and turn around times.

 

[Grumpy]

I voted “2 hrs overdue,” largely under the influence of Sardog (post #16), who makes excellent points.

At best, I carry several health risk factors with me when hiking (age, height-weight, etc.), and so possibly could find myself kaput alongside a trail one day. But so far, I have completed my latter year hikes pretty well, so I hope to continue.

My assumption is that if I get substantially overdue, it probably will be because I’ve become incapacitated in some way. Of course, as I get older the possibility of becoming confused may become more of an issue. In any event, I think it better to get started looking for me sooner than it is later.

I do carry a cell phone (at Mrs. G’s behest). But in most cases, I suspect it would not help me because of where I tend to go. For some reason I feel no compulsion to obtain a GPS unit – I’ve always managed to find my way with map and compass.

Mrs. Grumpy understands that hiking is important to me. And so, we have an agreement that should something terrible befall me in the course of doing it, there can be natural sadness that comes with loss of one’s chosen lifetime companion, but no anger. There must be celebration for Grumpy, amidst his friends’ mourning. This is not bravado. It is a sincere expression of how I view these things.

I always make sure Mrs. Grumpy is aware of my plan for the day. And I do not deviate materially from that plan as I go, unless there is absolutely no other choice.

Oh, and while I will do hikes that I know will be challenging (and invariably turn out so) for me, I do not plan to undertake what seem like great risks in setting my hiking goals and objectives. There is a strong element of caution in what I do and how I do it. (I do not equate difficulty with risk – in my mind they are related, but remain two separate things.)

G.