2020-11-13, 08:44 PM
When I had a few trips to really wild places with my son on which my wife didn't come, she wanted me to get a Spot, which I did, and used it for years, never emergency though. A few years ago I switched to an InReach and I very much like it. Came with spending more time solo once my son was old enough to have summer jobs and such. I always leave word at home as to where I'm going (and if I head out in a rental, I send home a photo of the car with plates visible for emergency) but with the three kinds of "free" messages I can send we have a convention whereby I can indicate for example that I am NOT starting from the planned trailhead but somewhere else. I try to send a few "OK" messages now and then to just narrow down the search radius in case SAR comes looking for me. Canned messages include "turn around, lunch spot" and "Running late but doing fine" Every now and then I've taken advantage of the ability to send an arbitrary text (pair to the phone app to type it) and I think that would be awesome in a real SOS situation. I make a point of always having it on my person, even if I drop my pack for a summit sprint. It is no substitute for being well prepared and self-reliant, and there are plenty of emergency situations where a solo hiker may be incapacitated and unable to call for help, but it is a bit of extra insurance. Oh you can get a highly localized weather forecast which can be useful if you're out camping in the boonies for more than a day or two. I have found that very helpful when trying to evaluate iffy weather situations.