[Backpacker Joe]

Yes. As detailed an account as possible. It doent help to say you'll hiking up the dutch miller gap trail if you intend on leaving it to go to crawford and the foss lakes. You must give as detailed an explanation of where you'll be as you can.

[Hiker Boy]

I leave a map stuck to the fridge with my route marked on it and numbers to the nearest ranger station to my route.

[Brian Curtis]

I doubt any of the Hi-Lakers and Trail Blazers involved in the Norton Smith SAR effort would even consider going alone without leaving a detailed itinerary (This is the SAR effort Salish referred to in an earlier post). Norton survived several rough days, but didn't survive long enough for searchers to find him. Going alone without leaving an itinerary is the height of foolishness.

[jenjen]

I leave a copy of my maps with my intended route marked on them, including probable campsites. I also leave a panic time and the phone number for the local ranger station and sheriff. I don't deviate from my route when I'm solo. I figure if SAR has to come out, the least I can do is make it as straight forward as possible for them to find me.

[Chief Paulina]

I tend to play with my TOPO maps before leaving. They ususally include intended routes and lots of GPS coords. I just make a copy for my wife before leaving. I also have a bit of a problem with wandering. Don't have the answer for that yet. I figure cell phones will fix that eventually.

[Allison]

WRT the panic factor: Good to have a non-panicker as the designee. I used to use Mom until I realized it was super stressful for her if I was even 5 minutes late, now I use Dad or any of a few trusted friends, all of who hike and understand that an hour or two late desn't mean call the cavalry.

[jimmymac]

I set my check-in time with the cushion up front. If I'm a few hours late, it means that I have less of a cushion between my trailhead time and my check in time. I've made it my practice to never call home until the appointed time. That way, there's never a reason to worry about not having heard from me as check-in time approaches. If things are way ahead of schedule, I may actually arrive home before check-in time. In any event, I try hard to absorb all the schedule variations on my side of the check-in call. This leaves little or no gray area on her end. If I ever miss a roll call, then it means something. Concern and action are probably appropriate at that point. Come to think of it, a print of this post will probably go in Mrs Jimmymac's little packet.

[Irish]

Okay People...Hubby is a member of SAR and I am here to tell you that you MUST leave details with someone! We all know that even the most experienced hikers and climbers can get into trouble. If you don't tell someone that you're going how will anyone know to miss you when you don't come back? By the time they realize you're missing it could be too late. Then just think of your poor friends and family who won't know where to even begin to look for you. There's lots of regulars here that post everyday so for those who don't have a buddy to leave their itineraries with, maybe you could leave it with a trusted regular on this forum. Just a thought.

[sarbar]

Irish..that is exactly what some of us in my hiking group do-we leave our itenarys with those we hike with a lot (and consider a friend). Way we look at it-if they don't return and send that email by the next morning-we will start looking.

[Kat]

[hikermike]

I have ALWAYS left a message, When I was single, I left it with a co-worker who would be present on Mon. morn. Now I tell my wife, leave a note on frig, (she never pays attention to me) with not only the destination but the approach. (There are many places with like sounding names, and the county. Before, and sometimes now, I leave a note on the car re: my expected return, so if some one is looking, save them the trouble if I changed my mind. When younger and alone, this sometimes would be my only contact. Use waterproof ink and leave note facing out. MOST fatalaties on climbs occur on class 3 sections on the return, not on the "hanging off the wall" part. (Yet you never see this part in the movies, sometimes the downclimbing can be more dangerous than the up, but the movie allways ends at the summit!) I just found out that one of those 3 people who died a few weeks ago in the N. Cas. was someone I saw everyday at work. Use care!

[Slugman]

Yes, including a detailed itinerary. I also build in enough extra time so that if I miss that time, it can't be just normal delays that caused it. I have told my G.F. Tanja that if ever I am late beyond my cut-off time, that she should call the authorities, give them all the pertinent info, but still not panic. Excessive worrying on her part will not speed the SAR people, and the most likely cause of my failure to report are mundane things like my car won't start or has been stolen or vandalized. My real fear is an injury on the early days of a multi-day solo BP on a weekday, with no one else around to go for help. But the only alternative I have been able to come up with is to not go, and that is something I am not willing to do. If I ever die because of this, it should go down as "unavoidable risk". Since I pretty much stick to established trails, I feel the risks are pretty small. With all the drownings, climbing accidents, etc, that are in the papers seemingly every day now, I have yet to read of a on-trail hiker who took every safety precaution coming to grief. Lightning I guess could do it, as I encountered on my trip to West Cady ridge earlier this year. That scared the heck out of me. I will think twice before heading out when thunderstorms are forecast.

[hikermike]

I got struck by lightning in the Sierra's one year and survived that, but the Boy Scouts this year didn't. Just goes to show that you may be done in by something unexpected so leave a note.

[jenjen]

If my itinerary isn't going to work, I turn around and head home. Simple as that. Even though I don't off-trail solo and I'm very conservative when I'm alone, things happen. I've broken my ankle when I hit a little dip in the trail wrong, sometimes way-trails sucker you in... It's just not worth it to me to not have someone know exactly where I'm supposed to be. That's just me. I was doing that when I was single. Now that I'm married, it's even more important that I keep to my plans. My panic time for a dayhike is usually noon of the next day. So if I was planning to dayhike on Friday, my husband wouldn't make the call till noon on Saturday if he didn't hear from me. When backpacking, I give myself at least an extra day - usually a couple of days.

[Slugman]

RDEshadow, you make some excellent points. I have a few answers to your suggested problems. I often leave a back-up destination with my GF if there is any question about the feasibilty of my first choice. My note will say, for example that if I can't get near enough to trailhead XYZ say due to snow, instead I'll go to nearby old reliable ABC. I use Lake 22 as a backup for most Mtn loop hiway hikes, for example, because SAR paeople can look for my car there on the way up to some further destination that was my first choice with no extra effort or time lost on their part. I end up going there at least once a year anyway, so if it's as a back-up, then no big deal. You weren't sure about the Hunt lake trailhead, so a nearby hike could have been pre-selected. If all else fails, I would drive back to cell-phone range or to the nearest payphone, and call in my new destination, leaving a message on my home phone and Tanja's cell. She knows to check for these messages before calling 911. As far as what time I'm expected back, I usually use midnight as the time to call 911 in the summer. In the winter, I figure the latest that I want to be back at the car, plus drive time to cell coverage, plus a safety margin to avoid unecessary calls. This gives me all the time I can possibly use on a dayhike, and still gives SAR some time to get geared up to start the search at daybreak. Plus Tanja doesn't have to stay up all hours waiting for my call. I would call at the earliest oppotunity to avoid unecessary worry on her part, unless I was going to be home pretty early. I called her at 10:30 from Enumclaw coming home from Mt Rainier last weekend, and got home at 11:30. No sense pushing the envelope. Since I usually hike on weekdays, I don't count on seeing other people. I'm often the last (or indeed the only) car at the trailhead. Somebody mentioned the factor of multiple destinations with the same name. If I was going to a "Lost lake", or anywhere for that matter, I would be sure to give enough secondary info to tell it from the other 29 "Lost lakes" in WA. I started doing this kind of stuff originally to make Tanja feel better about my solo hiking, including things like ALWAYS carrying bear repellent in my front pocket. But now they are second nature, and I would feel naked without my pack full of overnight survival gear.