[pct-l] Paying for SAR

[Jeffrey Olson]

It may seem a bit antiquated or backwards, but when I do my long section 
hikes alone, I am totally prepared to die.  I wouldn't carry a cell 
phone or spot device.  My family understands this and goes on about 
their lives.  Being self-sufficient is part of the experience for me.  I 
understand how it isn't for others...

Once when I was snowed in for four days at the end of September in the 
Emigrant Wilderness at Huckleberry Lake and came out two days late, it 
turns out my folks had just shrugged their shoulders.  My sister called 
the county sheriff and he said he saw my friend and I, and we looked 
like we knew what we were doing - that she should just wait and see if 
we came out when the blizzard ended.

Of course I was frantic to get to a phone and was both relieved and 
slightly peeved that I seemed to matter than little to my folks... (I 
still laugh at my reaction)

Jeffrey Olson
Rapid City, SD, where we just had the "Blizzard of the Century"