[pct-l] Excessive Information Gathering on Hikers

[Shutterbug steiner]

gopacha.org
   
  Is the trail journal in the discussion.   According to her journal she seemed shocked but appreciative of the concern.  She was not angry at the preemptive SAR call and explains WHY the politics of SAR might have been a little trigger happy and WHY  all the media hype..
   
  In my years of volunteering for SAR I have never heard of a subject that was not appreciative of our service.  Best case, if you did not need the assistance, you at least met some pretty hard core, generous, and compassionate SAR professionals.
   
  SB   

Greg Kesselring <gkesselr at whidbey.com> wrote:
  I agree that calling SAR when the hikers are 12 hours overdue, is a bit 
too quick on the trigger. 24 hours, I don't know, it's a judgment call.

But please, let's not exaggerate here. They did not call SAR after the 
hikers had hiked 2400 miles and were overdue from those 2400 miles. 
They called SAR after the hikers had been out for a few days, hiking 
from Snoqualmie to Stevens. If the hikers specified a date and time 
that they expected to be be at Stevens and if they did not mention that, 
hey, conditions are expected to be slow going up there due to new snow 
so we may not actually make that date and time, then calling out SAR 
after they were a day overdue may have been okay. Seems like if the 
hikers let folks on the ground know when they were leaving Snoq and when 
they expected to be at Stevens, perhaps they could also have said 
something about maybe we won't make it by that date and if not, don't 
call out SAR until such and such a time.

I am way on the outside here, don't know the details, don't know how 
many hours or days the hikers were overdue, don't know who called SAR, 
don't know what the hikers had told the person who had called SAR, etc.

If we're going to discuss these details it would probably be a good idea 
to know what those details are.

Greg

Postholer wrote:
> I am nothing less than extremely grateful to those who opened their homes 
> and offered their assistance, whether I accepted that assistance or not. 
> These generous folks offered their assistance and I chose to accept it or 
> not. It was not forced on me, it was my CHOICE.
>
> If someone called SAR after being 12-24 hours overdue after hiking over 
> 2,400 miles, I would be absolutely furious, regardless of weather conditons. 
> I say that with the greatest possible conviction being a total wimp in the 
> snow.
>
> Hike your own hike? Apparently, some folks don't want you to. Do not force 
> your 'genrosity' on others. It may not be wanted. Don't 'assume' that it is.
>
> Scott Parks
>
> ------------------------------------
> Trails : http://Postholer.Com
> Journals : http://Postholer.Com/journal 
>
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