Initiating a rescue?

[MadRiver]

Have you made arrangements with your spouse, significant other, or family pet when to initiate a rescue?

 

[spider solo]

yes
for hiking wait till next day if over due.
for paddling same day if over due

 

[sli74]

We leave my sister with our hiking plan and an estimated time of arrival back in Boston. She has been instructed to post on VFTT 6 to 12 hours after our ETA has passed to see if anyone can give updated info on having crossed paths with us, etc. At 24 hours past our ETA she has the emergency numbers to call and report us missing.

We always carry all needed items to survive a typical 24 hours in current conditions. In winter this includes sleeping bags and a tarp and many times a stove and cookpot and fuel. Our winter day hiking packs weigh about 25 pounds and our overnight packs weigh twice that.

Barring any serious debilitating injury, we should be able to get out on our own even if the time in which we do it is longer than expected. Also my ETA usually has about 3 to 5 hours extra time already built into it . . . (my sister doesn't know that ).

sli74

 

[adktyler]

Yes, I always let at least a trusted friend and a family member know that within 24 hours of not returning, to notify the appropriate authorities. This has worked out well, because on some trips we have been several hours late (as in 7+), and had we not had a system in place, lots of unnecessary trouble could have been had.

Not having a system like this in place has caused some of my friends great trouble. In one instance a friend had the entire police and fire department out looking for him after he was a few hours late.

When I am late, however, I do my best to call my friends and/or family to let them know I'm going to be late. If I have no cell service or something, oh well, we have the 24 hour system!

I always tell our pets where we are going, and our family goldfish have been trained to hop out of their tank, flop to the phone, and press speed dial 1 if they have not been fed for a day or two. So far this has worked well, and saved my life on at least 4 occasions.

 

[Puck]

I think 24 hours is fine. However my wife and my son's mother (not the same person) want a call before we take packs off.

 

[nartreb]

One of the advantages of being single is that nobody makes a fuss if you're not sleeping in your own bed. In the past I've done some really annoying treks in order to get to a phone within the alloted time, when I'd rather have simply bivvied. Nowadays I usually don't tell anybody where I'm going. I figure that gives me half a month, on average, to get back before the landlord starts to worry about the rent.

 

[Stash]

24 works. But every time I call my wife to let her know I'm on my way home she complains about not being able to collect the insurance...

 

[Fisher Cat]

I think you should ask : How long would it be until you admit you are overdue?I would wait at least 7 days to even admit I was overdue.

I've never needed it but I usually leave with my parents or brother my route, along with likely bail-outs, should the need arise. I think it helps them feel better too. I think its great to leave the plan with someone you have hiked a lot with before. They could provide a lot of insight into your hiking style and thinking pattern to any rescuers should the need arise.

 

[Darl58]

It all depends on the hike and weather conditions/ how many in group & time of year as to my time-frame.

I leave itinerary and parking spot with friends and call when I can with the understanding that cell service is not available, so panic is not neccesary until 24 hrs..

If solo hiking, someone always has my out time, start to worry time, worry time and panic and call time..... my parking options...for car finding also

 

[Neil]

No plan, no set-up, but, my wife always makes me leave a jpeg of my route and I leave the rest up to her. I am sure she would wait "long enough".

Beyond that, I do my best. So far , so good.

 

[erugs]

A friend spent two nights out and was not even missed by his office-mates.

This is a good reminder to have "the talk" with family and co-workers and to leave an itinerary somewhere that gives an indication of where we might be. I give a call to my parents after a hike and once my mother said, "Well, it must be nice to not have any responsibilities so you can go off like that." I still call her anyway.

 

[leaf]

its only when i solo in winter do i make sure to tell friends where i'll be, but they usually always ask where i'm going/what trails up and down i'll be taking before i even bring it up. how thoughtful.

i call or text when i'm out. they know when to start worrying.

not much use to tell my family since they live in georgia and have no clue where or what the flume slide is. but they are happy to know that someone is keeping tabs on me.

my cat would only care once the food got low in the dish. even then, there's a few mice running around my apartment.

 

[Oldmanwinter]

My wife hikes solo much more than I do. I don't know about the 24 hours though. If she's on a day hike and expected to be out some time in the late afternoon I think I would be reporting her missing the first thing the next morning. So maybe 10 to 15 hours overdue. If I was to wait the whole 24 hours that could easily mean another night out without anyone searching. If nothing else, I would start in on her intended route the first thing in the morning after one night out.

 

[wardsgirl]

When I am hiking alone, my BF knows to expect the unexpected. I always leave the house with about a half dozen possible itineraries for the day. I may be out very late and/or I may be nowhere near the trailhead I intended to take when the trip was first planned. If I was on a dayhike and didn't make contact by the early afternoon of day 2, there may be cause for concern. He lurks on this website and would be sure to check it for information from other hikers who may have crossed my path based on my intended route. He knows my level of preparedness and would probably just find my car in a parking lot and hike in to see what was going on with me. I don't think he would initiate a formal rescue under any circumstances.

On family hikes, my sister keeps tabs on us. She is a total non-hiker, so she tends to overreact a bit. She is forever updating our itinerary and calling us to see if we are home yet. Like sli74's sister, she has been a sister to a backpacker long enough to know what to expect.

 

[Mike P.]

I picked five but it varies by trip & time of year. A summer presidential traverse, it could be several hours, I'd probably phone in from the top to provide a status assuming I got there when the building was open.

Winter on a peak with exposure & very cold weather coming I or already in place, if solo, since I get an early start, I might make it two hours with the idea they might start that afternoon.

 

[sardog1]

Well, I think that some folks might be surprised that I chose two hours in the poll. I give my wife a time that I expect to be home (or on the phone) and then a separate time to call the authorities to report me overdue. That second time is rarely more than two hours later. I make a real hard effort to be home, or at least back to cell phone range, by that first time. I also leave her a map and a description of what I'm doing.

In many years of responding to SAR callouts, I never minded the all-so-frequent "turnaround" call on the radio or cell phone after starting out from home in the middle of the night. And I don't recall hearing a complaint on that point from any other responder or law enforcement officer -- it's part of being a responder. Delaying the overdue report makes the search harder and puts someone's life at risk.

Maybe some of my conservatism on this point reflects the fact that I go solo all the time. 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.

 

[TCD]

I don't solo in winter, because I don't fel like carrying the stuff to survive the night on what's supposed to be a "day hike." When I solo in the summer, I don't need to carry anything extra to survive a night. When I'm solo hiking in the summer, the standing arrangement I have with my wife is to initiate a search early the next morning (the Rangers don't generally search at night in the summer).

 

[bikehikeskifish]

Interesting question. I always leave a plan for my wife, but unless I am alone / in a small, well-known group, it's hard to give her an exact time. I give her a general time frame and call when I get back to the car.

I waited until I got home to ask her and she said "I wouldn't sleep but would probably wait until early morning." That's not 24 full hours, but it's more than 5.

Tim

 

[RollingRock]

I don't tell anyone where I'm going unless I'm bushwhacking. I have been hiking in the Whites for over 30+ years and know the trails very well. I've have taken risks with weather but have turned around when I reached my maximum comfort level. In the event of injury, there are enough hikers around nowadays to help me but if I was unable to walk, I'll crawl to get into a protected area off the ridge...in that case I would probably use my cell phone.

 

[RoySwkr]

If I am out for an easy hike on trails often nobody knows where I've gone, in the summer I'm often away for several days so it could be a long time before I'm missed

On difficult trips or winter trips, I often tell somebody where I'll be and what time to take action if I'm not back

Realistically I should get a PLB rather than expecting anybody to find me some places I go