Whether we are hiking, fishing, paddling, or enjoying the beauty of the Great Outdoors in any number of others ways, emergencies can occur. If you ever found yourself in the woods in need of help, what type of signaling device do you think would be the most helpful? Consider a study by the National Park Service conducted in 2014 which summarized the most common reasons why people needed to be rescued in its parks. The single most common activity in which the subjects of a search were engaged was the “Day Hike” (42%). This far outpaced the next activity, overnight backpacking, at 13%. Other activities represented low single digits, where even “Technical Climbing” only accounted for a mere 2% of rescues. And during these activities, the most common factors that contributed to the need for help were “Fatigue / Physical Conditioning” (23%) and “Error in Judgment” (19%). I would submit that this study is representative […]
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