Backpacking Guide - Safety
This section of the website contains a backpacking guide on safety. Backpacking is fun and challenging, but it is also potentially dangerous. Injuries are common on the trail, though luckily most of these are minor. You can minimize your risk by planning ahead. Having a backpacking guide or plan, a well-stocked first aid kit, and knowledge of what to do in emergency situations can potentially save your life.
I am not being facetious here; people have died out there in the backcountry. How many news reports have you heard of missing hikers who later turn out to be dead? Although some of these can be chalked to pure rotten luck, many of them could have been prevented with better preparation—or just plain not being stupid. For instance, while climbing Horsetail Falls in Desolation Wilderness, we actually watched a person being airlifted off the trail. Coming across a ranger the next day, we found out that that person had died. Now the trail along the falls is steep and rocky; it is not quite rock-climbing, but it’s pretty close. Many people choose not to follow the trail and hike closer to the waterfall for the thrill of it. It was one of these people that was being taken out that day. Usually Horsetail Falls claims one or two lives a year, and I would probably be correct in guessing it is people like these, who made the bad decision to act recklessly. Don’t be one of these people.
Before you leave, make sure you know where you are going and how long you will be gone. Provide this information to a friend or relative, along with the contact information of the closest ranger station. Bring a cell phone, and tell them you will contact them as soon as you get off the trail. If they do not hear from you within a couple days of your expected exit date, have them contact the ranger station. If you are lost or stuck somewhere out there on the trail, the rangers will come looking for you.
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