When is a hiker overdue?

[Big_Old_Dog]

I used to use a SPOT Gen3 and had two programmed messages to my wife. "Ok, just sleeping/resting" and another that I need help. Of course, one can hit the emergency panic button and I had worldwide rescue insurance. I always felt the device was for the security of my wife. An Inreach is probably much better because you can text in two directions (to a loved one and them to you) and it uses Satellite for the texts, so, it should always goes thru unlike a cell phone in remote areas where service is sketchy. I thought of buying one but probably won't because I don't see the risk on highly traveled trails. Over a long distance like AT, how would a loved one possibly know that you have not reached your intended destination at the end of the day's hike, when you yourself probably can't devine the weather and all manner of suck that can come your way. Watching your dot could just add anxiety for them if for example, your dot stopped early afternoon many miles short of the intended destination. "Oh my, he fell off a cliff (Robert Redford)"

Something I have not figured out my communication plan but have time before NOBO start in early May

[nsherry61]

I used to use a SPOT Gen3 and had two programmed messages to my wife. "Ok, just sleeping/resting" and another that I need help. Of course, one can hit the emergency panic button and I had worldwide rescue insurance. I always felt the device was for the security of my wife. An Inreach is probably much better because you can text in two directions (to a loved one and them to you) and it uses Satellite for the texts, so, it should always goes thru unlike a cell phone in remote areas where service is sketchy. I thought of buying one but probably won't because I don't see the risk on highly traveled trails. Over a long distance like AT, how would a loved one possibly know that you have not reached your intended destination at the end of the day's hike, when you yourself probably can't devine the weather and all manner of suck that can come your way. Watching your dot could just add anxiety for them if for example, your dot stopped early afternoon many miles short of the intended destination. "Oh my, he fell off a cliff (Robert Redford)"

Something I have not figured out my communication plan but have time before NOBO start in early May

Lots of good thoughts!

With my son, solo on the PCT, with diabetes and an insulin pump, it was fun to follow his dots when he remembered to keep them going. Then, not seeing them certainly added anxiety. Then, in the end, realizing that he had a button to push if needed, that would also notify me if the button was pushed, was the real peace of mind.

If loved ones are going to be anxious, absolutely do not leave a breadcrumb trail or commit to daily text messages. There are just way to many reasons communications fail and anxieties ramp up to unhealthy levels.

[KnightErrant]

My agreement with my mom when I was thru-hiking the AT in 2018 was if I was out of touch for >48 hours (without warning ahead of time, such as in the 100-mile wilderness where I knew this would not be practical and we lengthened it to 5 full days), she could use my Gmail password to log into my Google account and use the "find my phone" function, which would locate my phone's latest ping. She would do this twice, several hours apart. If my phone pinged from the AT and was moving along the trail over that time period, she would know not to panic and I was just delayed. If my phone was off trail and/or not moving for a half day or more, she could contact the authorities.

She only ever used Find My Phone once (I didn't anticipate how bad the service would be in GSMNP) and saw that I was still rolling along, and that reassured her until I was able to get in touch. Except for that one non-incident, my Verizon coverage was good enough along the trail that I could always send an "I'm okay" text and/or photo from a mountaintop every day or two. It wasn't a perfect system (like if I had dropped my cell phone in a creek during that time in GSMNP and it hadn't pinged that I was still moving, she might have called the authorities unnecessarily) but it seemed like a good balance between giving me flexibility while also reassuring my parents with a tool to locate their 24-year-old solo-hiking daughter if something happened. Obviously a phone is fallible, but on a NOBO AT thru, I also felt like if something *did* happen to my phone, there would almost always be the option to borrow someone else's or make a quick hitch into town to make family aware of the situation before they panicked.

Last year I started solo hiking in some more remote areas and was planning a thru-hike of the PCT or CDT for 2021 (#thanksCOVID), so as a tongue-in-cheek Mother's Day gift, I bought myself a SPOT to calm her worries. I use the "check in" button each evening on remote trips. I also have a programmed message for "Delayed-- will arrive late but all is okay" in case I'm just running behind schedule, and then of course there's the SOS button for emergencies.

For long solo day hikes in the Whites, especially in the winter, a local hiking buddy and I would often shoot each other a quick message about our itinerary with the understanding that if we did not check in within a few hours of the expected time, we would drive to the trail head to check for each other's vehicle and then alert authorities if it appeared we were still out on the mountain. Never needed to, but nice to know that if I went missing on a Saturday day hike, someone would notice that night instead of only once I didn't show up for work on Monday.