[pct-l] RE: Subject: Subject: 2 Questions

[Frank Dumville]

Some more ideas on staying together:

Good idea to leave a distinctive marker if you leave the trail, but DON'T leave your pack unattended in bear country. It might not be there when you get back. Animals might take off with salty things like trekking poles. Leave something you can afford to lose. 

People walk past trail markers, junctions and partners without noticing them all the time. What is obvious to one person is not always obvious to the other. If you are going to wait at a junction wait on the trail, not off in the shade somewhere. 

The idea of staying together sounds good but are you actually going to do this month after month. I've read a lot of incident reports where the person that got lost was "just behind" their partner.

Carry enough gear to be self sufficient if you get separated.

Decide in advance what you're going to do. Have a plan of what to do if you get separated. Are you both going to return to the last location you were together? Will each proceed to a known location and wait there? How long are you going to wait before you seek help?

What you don't want to do is have two people wondering around looking for each other. A not uncommon situation is where you have unknowingly passed your partner and speed up to try and catch them. Meanwhile your partner turns around to start looking for you so the distance between you is increasing.

Don't underestimate the chance of getting lost when you're hot, cold, tired, thirsty, hungry, etc.

Snap