Emergency communication with the outside world

[Deertick]

Do you make any preparations regarding if the terrible \"What if\"s happen while you are in the woods?

I\'m thinking of this today since we\'re just a few days away from when Wife and I were planning on being incommunicado with the \"world\" for a week (planning on packing into the wilderness for some vacation) and, as we were packing last night, got a call about a sudden, unexpected death in the family.

Obviously, this changes things, but if we were just a few days ahead of today, we\'d never know, nor be able to support the family and take care of our duties. We\'d instead just be camping, outside of cell range, unaware. Since we were headed for a spot about 12-15 miles into wilderness, we weren\'t planning on any sort of mid-week-walk-to-the-trailhead-and-call-home activity.

(Now, if the situation is reversed, and the sudden, unexpected death is ME in the backcountry, I hope they don\'t find me at all! Leave me in God\'s country, I say, and if any of you find me, you can help yourself to whatever gear you want!)

 

[cnelk]

John
We all live in the \'What If\' world these days.

I have found that \'What If\' can be very expensive, just like a mid-life crisis
The determining factors for me would be the safety of me and my immediate family first.

After that, the world can wait.

 

[bowhunter]

I used a SPOT on a trip a few years ago when I was solo in a wilderness area. The SPOT was more for my wife to know I was still alive as she could not contact me. I sent an \"I\'m ok\" message out every am and pm. She recieved a text and email. On the email there was a link she could click on that showed my coordinences. It sits in my hunting closet now.

 

[Deertick]

John

After that, the world can wait.

True that.

In fact, my older son had been planning a big trip with his girlfriend to Italy for a long time ... Luckily, they\'re there now, and I see no reason to tell him while he\'s there ... what good would that do? Enjoy the trip.

\"The world\" gets enough of my time as-is. Still, bad news has a way of showing up right when it\'s least-expected. I remember last year when I was packing for my elk trip and got a call that I was called for jury duty during the entire week that I had planned to hunt!

Wife and I have a \"rule\" for when either of us is \"away from the office\" and that is that whatever badness occurs while we\'re gone will still be badness when we return. In a way, being in the wilderness is like being in a state of grace, removed from all that, and it should stay that way.

Still, I wonder if others have stories of these sorts of things, and how they\'ve handled them.

 

[bowhunter]

I remember a story of a guys pet rabbitt getting sick and he had to leave his hunt early. :lol: :lol:

He wouldn\'t have known if he had no contact with home.

 

[Deertick]

I was thinking, too ... as I get older and wiser, I think \"Road camping doesn\'t seem so bad; maybe I\'ll do more of that in the future.\"

But now ... nope -- one advantage of wilderness is being unreachable!

Load up the packs, folks!

 

[bowhunter]

I was thinking, too ... as I get older and wiser, I think \"Road camping doesn\'t seem so bad; maybe I\'ll do more of that in the future.\"

But now ... nope -- one advantage of wilderness is being unreachable!

Load up the packs, folks!

Enjoy the wilderness why you can.

 

[americanbwana]

This is my second year using the Delorme InReach. It has pretty good battery life (depending on frequently you send and receive), allows for two way communication (Not real time like a cell phone), updates are sent to map (optional) so my wife knows where I\'m at, and provides the ability for her to \'ping\' me to get my location at anytime it is on.

A typical day goes like this.
Send out a (free included predefined message) while making breakfast (I\'m still alive). Leave the device on, but do not send out auto location messages. This allows her to send me messages like \"Have fun today\". Messages are sent and received at a user defined interval (20 minutes is default), so it can take an hour or so to complete a simple two way exchange.

Lunch I send out predefined (free with plan) message like \"I\'m taking a break here\".

At the end of the day I send out another message saying this is where I\'m spending the night. I leave it on for an hour to see if she is going to respond.

All of the messages you send can be sent to what they call mapshare. I set the map as the home page on the computer before heading out. All she needs to do is open the browser to see where I\'m at.

Anyway, that\'s my story and I\'m sticking to it.

 

[elkmtngear]

This is my second year using the Delorme InReach. It has pretty good battery life (depending on frequently you send and receive), allows for two way communication (Not real time like a cell phone), updates are sent to map (optional) so my wife knows where I\'m at, and provides the ability for her to \'ping\' me to get my location at anytime it is on.

A typical day goes like this.
Send out a (free included predefined message) while making breakfast (I\'m still alive). Leave the device on, but do not send out auto location messages. This allows her to send me messages like \"Have fun today\". Messages are sent and received at a user defined interval (20 minutes is default), so it can take an hour or so to complete a simple two way exchange.

Lunch I send out predefined (free with plan) message like \"I\'m taking a break here\".

At the end of the day I send out another message saying this is where I\'m spending the night. I leave it on for an hour to see if she is going to respond.

All of the messages you send can be sent to what they call mapshare. I set the map as the home page on the computer before heading out. All she needs to do is open the browser to see where I\'m at.

Anyway, that\'s my story and I\'m sticking to it.

Just bought one of these, Dana. Seems to work well, it\'s a little bulkier than I would like, but it gets the job done. I\'ll be gone (solo) 15 days or so, with no cell service up there, so I needed something. InReach was cheaper than the SPOT in the long run, since the SPOT requires 150 dollars per year service plan. With the InReach, I can cancel my $14.95 monthly charge after the Season if I wish.

Good idea to set the map up on the home PC !

 

[WW]

I\'m not as spry as I once was. Hell, I get tripped up in the vacuum cleaner cord when the wife does the floor. So last year I purchased a ResQlink PLB. It\'s nice to know that when I push the button, the troops are on the way. Hope I never have to use the dang thing.

Actually, the PLB is my last ditch effort if I need help. First choice is still my cell phone if I have service. If no service, then the PLB comes into play.

 

[OldMan]

I\'m in the mountains so many days a year that the hunt is just another day in the mountains. I don\'t do anything. If I die in the mountains it will be a good way to go, and i\'ll be where I want to be.

 

[bowhunter]

I\'m in the mountains so many days a year that the hunt is just another day in the mountains. I don\'t do anything. If I die in the mountains it will be a good way to go, and i\'ll be where I want to be.

:clap: :clap: :clap:

 

[razorback]

This is my first time doing the mountains. I like Stillhunters answer. If something happens to me, I\'m good with that. I\'ve watched my loved ones go in a hospital wearing diapers and thought they deserved much better. I would rather suffer a brutal death on a mountain in God\'s country anyday and die with dignity. My wife and son know how I feel about that so they should take comfort in that as well, we\'ve had that discussion. By no means am I trying to temp fate or do something stupid out there, just want to enjoy God\'s country but if something unforeseen happens, I\'m at peace with that.

 

[Deertick]

Like I said, if you find my body out there, the binoculars are yours, as is just about anything else you want. Tell my wife where I am, but no one else.

But that\'s easy ... the real issue is \"What if something happens to someone else while I\'m gone?\"

Again, like I said, my family has decided to just update me (or Wife, or sons) when we get back. We don\'t do much \"checking in\" and even when we are in cell range, rarely do we contact each other.

\"No news\" is good news.

 

[Swede]

I usually spend a lot of time out alone. I try to call in every evening. Mostly the call is to reassure each other that everything is fine. I am as anxious to know all is well at home, as my wife is to know how things are going for me. I would rather be buried on a slightly timbered mountainside overlooking a meandering river drainage, than have the fanciest grave in Arlington or Forest Lawn. To me that is not the point of communications. I am so far away, and likely hard to find, it might not matter, for my health and safety that I did not call. The call just makes the good life just a little bit better. My wife is not easily panicked or stressed, so I know she would not ask me to return home unless it was very important.

 

[OldMan]

The only one that will miss me is my dog. I have a good home for him arranged if I don\'t come back.

Other than that. I\'m sure in a couple of months someone might say............Where\'s Pete?