[pct-l] Rescue Stats

[Bighummel@aol.com (Bighummel@aol.com)]

If I'm driving my car up highway 395 and a coyote jumps out in front of me
and through no fault of mine I swerve off of the highway and into a ditch,
crippling my car, then I will pick up my cell phone and call . . . who?

Well AAA, of course, because I pay for that service and don't expect Joe
Taxpayer to come out with a tow truck and haul my sorry ass back to a repair
shop!

Now, alternatively, I miss the poor coyote and don't crash and make my way up
into Kings Canyon NP on foot and happen to mis-step off of the trail as a
lightning bolt strikes nearby, again no fault of mine, but I break my ankle
in four places.  Now, if my cell phone is in my pack and can reach service,
or someone comes by offering to go for help, then I can't call AAA or any
other service other than the NP Service because they have sole jurisdiciton.
They come out and pull my sorry ass back to a doctor's repair shop and who
pays?  Should I?  Hell YES!  I'm going to ask my homeowner's insurance to
cover (they may tell me to go take another flying leap!) of course.  It sure
would be nice if Joe Taxpayer would pay for my rescue, but then would that
really be reasonable just because it happened on public land?

Now, here is a scenario that did happen to me and is not speculation:  I was
in the high Sierras and a late spring snow storm hit.  I was several days
late picking up my package in Independence and my parents called the
Sheriff's station and asked them to send out a search party for me.
Financial arrangements weren't discussed.  The Sheriff's sent out a rescu
e/search party that never found me.   I walked in on my own.  What if they
had found me and I refused to go?  Should I have to pay for the search party
costs because my parents requested the search?  Could they have charged my
parents for the cost if I did need rescuing, without telling them first that
the cost of the rescue party would be on them?

There don't seem to be many nice clean scenarios where you can always draw
the line that the person needing help was somehow negligent.  I guess the
government thinks that it is easier to just pay for it all than fight in
court over every one.

IMTwistedO

Strider