What message do you leave with your SO or other contact(s) before hitting the trail or traveling alone?

As sometimes silly as it seems especially when I hit the same trails multiple times, I leave a comprehensive list with DW on the kitchen table. It begins with a modified military 5 point contingency plan called a GOTWA.

Where I am Going.
Others going with me.
Time I will be back.
What gear I have if I get in trouble.
Actions to take if I don't come back.

For Example:

I am going to hike Carney Springs trail. Walking on trail by 0600.
I am going alone.
I will be off trail and back in phone range by noon.
I have water, food and survival equipment with me, see gear list attachment.
If I don't contact you by 3pm, call Lost Dutchman state park #123-456-7890. Give them all attached info.

The next pages are:
My vehicle description and plate number.

I always hand write a gear checklist to double check all the gear I am taking with me and leave this with the packet. This is item by item including how much food and water. It includes what I am wearing that day and the color. This way SAR knows what to look for and how prepared I am for an extended period of time for night time or weather conditions.

If I have GPS waypoints from previous trips or copy of the map or an online description of the trail, I will include what I can. With longer trips I list a bug out direction in case of trouble. If SAR knows that if I am in trouble and can/should move I will move in a cardinal direction (N,S,E,W) to a handrail that follows along the whole hike like a river, road or tracks. This way they can cover a long rally point before going to a grid or blind search. That's a big paragraph to just really say, "If I am in trouble I am heading East to Boulder creek."

Now that I have written this out, its much longer than I thought for really a simple discussion question.

How do you do it?

I leave the same message. I send one to my girlfriend, one to my mom, and one to my sister. With my ETA home, I will contact at least one of them; they usually call each other to see if I checked in. Additionally, I leave a note in the car, on the front seat, as to where I am going, what I have, and my return time/date. So far, the system has worked for me. But, I USUALLY dont get lost-turned around, sometimes, but NEVER lost.

I leave one on the dashboard of my car saying

"Joe-Bob, Out site-ing in the new rifle, be back in a couple of hours."

I also include the expected driving route and where I might park if I know that info.

You covered the who-to-call and when-to-call info already.

Clearwater, how do they know where your vehicle will be? Do they even know you're gone? Surely you leave more info than that!

Sue

I leave more than that at home, a photo copy of the map with
area circled for one.

I leave a note with the wife when I'm hiking/hunting overnight but WOW NightHiker you put mine to shame!

Sue - I don't think you're getting the joke. He's writing a note saying that he's carrying a rifle and will be back to the vehicle any time now --- just in case anyone thinks about messing around with the vehicle.

My note might say "Decided to test out the new shotgun in the clearing just down the trail. If you don't hear any shots fired that means I'm on my way back to the vehicle. ... signed Your buddy from cell block A."

@Nighthiker.

Great GOTWA. Because I spent so many words describing the thread I didn't list out my kit. You doing so is a great illustration of how I also do it.

@Clearwater. thanks for the laugh.

For General Purpose. I don't actually leave anything in my car about my whereabouts. I suppose b/c I have parked in sketchy, non-secure areas and don't want people to know how far gone I might be.

Conversely, a friend who did do this also left in his car an imprint of his footwear tread on a piece of aluminum foil for SAR to know what footprint to look for. He would just lay a sheet down and step on it and leave it on the front seat.

And you should see what Joe-Bob carries!

A friend of mine who works SAR suggests you leave a "scent item" in the car for search dogs. The team can break into the car and that would be the reason they'd find it productive.

I normally drive to trailhead in different shoes and socks than I hike in so ..... there you go.

In addition to what I've read, the color of your gear and clothing and a description of your snax/gum/cigarettes and any other clue you might leave behind would be helpful. The brand and model of footgear, along wth size, is helpful. Also medical conditions including required medication, and who you will contact if you come out in a different area. The footprint in foil is a good idea, if you can do it.

While this is helpful to have in a note: ...."If I am in trouble I am heading East to Boulder creek.", it is much, much, MUCH more helpful if folks just stay put when they realize they are in trouble. It could save thousands of man hours, injury or death to SAR personnel and $$$,$$$ that does come out of our tax money.

One search I was involved in for a group of youths with adult leaders that should have known better involved their splitting up and continuing in two groups to try to find their way back. A search helicopter crashed which caused severe injuries to all but 1 of the 7 on board. One was crippled and medically retired, one was severely disabled (quad) but refused to retire... until recently.

Consider the toll that vanity takes...

i leave a trip plan with a map and photos of me and my gear. my wife will leave it on the dinning room table so the 911 gang will find it if they have to be in the house helping HER..and of course to find me if i'm not back from a canoe trip on the late-late date.
i leave the car empty.

Sorry, I missed the joke!

And I even know the one about leaving the empty holster and used target on the front seat!

Dummy Sue

Similar discussion of same topic

Another great idea? Get a PLB. You will will make the dear wife ( and SAR) very happy.

Would love one, don't own one. Nor do most people, unfortunately.

Even if I did, I would not change or stop my GOTWA's. A PLB would be on my gear list but having one does not mean I can/should access it due to a variety of reasons. Nor would I put that sense of security on DW, thinking I would "pop the cover" if I don't call when i said I would.

But a great idea, nevertheless. Seriously looking at the McMurdo Fast Find.

Now back to thread. What message do you leave or how to you give info out when you go into the back country?

I leave a photocopy of the topo map with my intended route highlighted. I also mark the perimeter of the area I'll be in with "will not cross these boundaries" hash marks. It's easy to set finite boundaries in Colorado - usually I'm hiking in some mountain drainage and it's easy to keep yourself from "accidently" crossing these towering ridges on either side of you. They make great funnels to keep you within a well defined area, even if you venture off-trail. It's easy enough to get yourself temporarily lost anywhere, but not to the extreme that you inadvertantly scale a 14,000 foot peak and wander down the other side of it.

... as long as you are in the right drainage to begin with

To a point only - anyone who lives in the Pacific Northwest west of the Cascades knows when they're in a valley and which direction to go to 'self-extract', but getting there can be tough with all the slide alder and variegated footing wherever there isn't an established trail. Also the fastest route to hypothermia here is to thrash through wet slide alder for 15 minutes. Remember James Kim... I think the best advice for lost hikers in our neck of the woods is still Stay Put, someone will be along to find you soon enough, your job is to carry enough with you to survive in wet and cold for 24-48 hours minimum. Sometimes keeping in one place keeps you dry, which can keep you alive.

For solo hikes my wife is my hiking partner - she gets a note with where I'm going, the trail number I'm on, my turn around time on the trail and where I expect to reach (furthest point in), and what time I'll call in and get home. I *NEVER* divert from my planned itinerary without telling her. Ever. Nor do I jolly walk a differnt trail home, ever. She always gets a call when I'm on the road home and back in cell range, it shortens the search area in case I didn't make it home. She knows I hike with enough gear to stay overnight comfortably (dry and warm). She knows I carry a PLB, and will use it if I can access it and need assistance. She knows that my last ditch time is 9pm, after which she should contact the local sheriff's office to report me as late for calling in. Worst case, I'm lying unconscious or dead at the bottom of a ravine, in which case the most heroic efforts of SAR won't make a helluva lot of difference to me. Best case, I'm safe and warm in my tarptent for the night. Medium case, I'm okay, but ran across someone on the trail who is not, and I'm just slowed by their pace to the trailhead (its happened twice, once with a beautiful female German tourist with a badly sprained ankle - wife wasn't too happy about that one :-). So far I haven't given her any reason to worry, but if 9pm came she is better prepared than if I simply left a note.

We used to call self extraction routes "Panic Azimuths" in the military. The basis of them were that, when SHTF, its one of four cardinal directions, and a landmark you are HIGHLY unlikely to miss (be it a road, town, country, etc). This is something I leave when I go off on my own, but havent had to use it as of yet. I usually choose a road, as you cannot really miss hitting that. As long as my panic azimuth will guarantee I hit it, the distance doesnt really matter. On paper, it sounds like a decent idea; as I havent ever had to employ it though, I am not sure of the practical use; using cardinal directions works great with even a button compass, and even with terrain variations, you SHOULD be able to get to your RP, but I am SURE mr. Murphy is waiting there for you....

I concur that it's pretty easy for a guy to make like a gutterball and not be lost so long as he doesn't cross a ridge. That works nicely if the trip doesn't leave the drainage.

But for the record, and for those who don't know, coming down off a ridge or a peak is a PRIME place to begin getting lost.

The different drainages might be separated by ten feet at the top of the ridge where you choose the wrong one. When you discover you've picked the wrong drainage you could be a LONG way from where you needed to be. And you're downhill and may have to climb a ridge to get over to the correct bowling lane :-)

Some great points on how to use a Panic Azimuth or Handrail. Its exactly how I use it for my planning.

I think its smart to add to a plan, if you can. Terrain dictates. Doesn't mean you will use it in any emergency, if your on the trail and that trail plan is filed with someone, it makes sense to stay put.

I think it´s good to emphasize which signaling techniques you would use. If you list what you are carrying SAR people can figure something out but I still think it´s a good idea to write it out separately. For example:

"SIGNALING

acoustical signals:
whistle with high frequency tone (3x)

visual signals:
daytime:
3 smoke pillars
orange tarp
signal mirror flashes (3x)
big "V" or "SOS" on the ground built from available material

night time:
3 fires forming a triangle
flashlight flashes (3x, white color)"

etc.

I'm thinking a portable satellite beacon, Ham radio APRS, couple of search lights, and a really, really long piece of string along with my standard bag of small white pebbles oughta pretty much get the job done...

Interesting thread guys.

Something I learnt from a very young age training for Ten Tours, D of E and Mountain Perambulations is the importance of Route cards.

Route cards are used in both the Mountain Leader Training and Alpine Leader Training.

They have three distinct advantages.

1 - When writing your route card before the trip you are studying the map of the area and getting some understanding of the route and terrain.

2 - During the walk you work from your route card, which already has the gridrefs of your waypoints marked. The bearing to your next waypoint, already worked out with declination. As well as other useful information.

3 - Your route card becomes your note which you can leave with a friend, loved one, hotel reception, police or rangers station.

A route card should contain the following information.

Main Objective
Date
Magnetic Variation
Start and finish point
Time out
Estimated time back
Time of nightfall

Then you have the grid ref for your start point followed by the grid ref to your first waypoint. This is your first leg
The magnetic bearing between the two.
The distance between the two.
Amount of height gained and lost between the two.
A short description of the ground between the two.
And, the estimated time to walk that Leg

You then do this for each leg of your trip so that you have the grid ref of each waypoint and the bearing to the next waypoint.

With experience a route card can be planed so well that you can estimate an entire multi day walk to arrive at the destination with in minutes of you estimated time.

Further information that is added to your route card

Escape routes – grid refs of the places you will try to
escape to if something goes wrong and you are confident
that you can extract yourself safely.
Names of your party
Equipment of your party
Weather conditions for the duration of your trip.

On the reverse of my route cards I add an accident report form. This can be filled out if an accident happens, giving me a record of the incident. If I need to send someone out to get help I can give them both the route card and accident report on one piece of paper to carry out detailing all the information about the party, the route and the casualty, the nature of the incident, injuries sustained and the type of rescue that may be needed.

I leave a route card at home with a friend or loved one. If I am going to a remote area I will leave one at the local police station, maybe one at my hotel or camp site. One will be left in the car and I will carry a couple with me. One for my navigation purposes. And a couple in case of an emergency, one for my record, one for anyone that may need to go for help and one for the casualty which stays with him/her all the way to hospital so there I a record of continuity.

I have been using this system for over 30 years and it is a proven system that has saved countless lives in the UK Mountains and the Alps.

The best thing about it. By researching your route card, you research your route and the terrain. You have some understanding of the weather conditions you are likely to experience. You are making a very detailed and accurate record of your route, which you can leave behind so people know where you are going. Whilst on the route you can work off your route card with your compass. You may never remove your map from your backpack. It is ideal for working in bad weather, when you are tired or when you are covering ground with no footpaths or trails. There should be no sudden surprises on your route and if there is you know to stop and check the map as you have probably gone wrong somewhere. You have a record of your route so if you need to turn around, you can do simple back bearings to retrace your steps. You have thought about and planed escape routes, removing pressure and panic whilst trying to decide your next course of action in an emergency. You have a means of sending someone out with detailed information of any incidents occur and you have a record of it.

Finally when you finish you trip your can file your route card away for further use in the future and have a permanent reminder of every trip you have ever done.

I recognise some people may not of heard of route cards and may struggle to understand my description.

Here is a website that has a couple of examples
http://hsmt.info/route_cards.htm

The examples that are shown are very basic and mainly detail just the route or in a couple cases are specific to an organisations needs.

The more information you can add to your route card before you start a trip the less work has to be done by a person that may be looking for you or you have to do if and incident occurs.

Thank you for adding the link, I was reading your first thread and thinking, "Wonder if he has copy of that Route Card online or can scan it".

The G.O.T.W.A. I started this thread with is also called a 5 Point contingency plan, used by military units in the field. I like to use Phase Lines and other such military techniques on my trip plans but I am not on a comm. net to let anyone know when I have crossed a phase line, so its just an exercise for me. It allows me to break the movement into smaller bites for time lines, travel considerations, points of interest, etc.

The Scout Association Route Card that is shown in that link, is a vast improvement on the one they used to use. It is very similar to the one I wrote for my own needs.

Route cards are used buy many organisations in the UK and Europe including the military.

I find writing a route card extremely fun and I will spend hours poring over the map planning my route. For me writing a route card is the start of my trip.

What I do before I head out is write an email to my wife. Said email can be forwarded to SAR (or printed and faxed).

In the email (in addition to the text), I include a link to Acme Mapper that shows my route in a fair amount of detail. For example, here is the route I took last Saturday.

One time when I came back a lot later than expected, my wife did call SAR. They got a hold of me on my cell once I got into range. I told them that everything was fine and that I was just running late. SAR sent a truck up to the trail head and had me check in with them on my way out just to be sure. One of the SAR guys thanked me for adding my map link. He said it makes it so much easier if they really know where to look.

Anyway, I think Acme Mapper is worth knowing about even for non survival purposes (multi-person trip planning for one).

HJ