[pct-l] Out of Contact Hikers - A suggestion

[Frank Dumville]

The recent incident with missing hikers inspired these suggestions which aren't new, but may be forgotten in this day of instant communications.

Communications devices fail. Plan on it.

If you are going to have someone follow your hike and worry about you, establish a procedure they can use if they don't hear from you. 

Have a primary contact. Commit to when they should initiate a search. Write it down so there is no confusion. Hikers have a hard commitment to initiate communications prior to this time. Loss of service or battery failure is no excuse for not doing this. 

If you don't want to commit to a schedule, that's fine. Just tell people you'll be back in a year and not to worry.

Snap