Help! I've fallen and I can't get up

I am now the proud owner of an official panic button.

After 30 years of going to the East Pole without feeling the need to check in, this last time someone let me know there was some concern for worry because no one knew when I planned to come out and a huge storm was approaching, a storm that turned out to be more in the imagination of drama queens in the news media than any serious threat.

Now, I have spent whole winters out there, and before the advent of cell phones, without a peep from anyone about worry.   I know all the manuals say don't go alone and let someone know where you are going and when you expect to return.  Long ago I learned I could spend my life waiting for someone to go with, so I have always just taken off when I felt like it.  I have seen needless worry lead to unnecessary search and rescue efforts too.  I can't think of anything more embarrassing than having a rescuer show up when I didn't need one.  I don't want people worrying, largely because some over-imaginative person might mobilize such an effort.

On the other hand,  at one point during this last trip I was thinking, wow, here I am still banging around in the Alaska woods at the age of 70 and took some pride in that.  Then I thought holy crap on a cracker I am banging around in the Alaska woods alone at the age of 70.  That  was a bit sobering and then when I learned both a friend and a family member actually worried about this sort of thing, maybe it was time to do something about it.

So, I bought a panic button. I had read about these devices and for several years have considered buying one, but the price was a little daunting and as I made choices for what to buy for my trips to the East Pole, and sailing for that matter, the idea fell away in favor of things like cameras and guns and new socks.  This week they were on sale at the Great Alaska Sportsman Show and I bought one and I am now connected if I choose to be.

I had heard of a fellow in the Wrangell Mountains a few years ago activating a SPOT locating device, saving his life and since than it has been in the back of my mind. A few years ago the folks in charge of the Iditarod sled dog race began requiring mushers to carry them.  I had even looked at the locaters in stores and checked their website a time or two.  But Sunday I took the next step.  I now own one of the little devices called a SPOT Satellite GPS Messenger.

The unit provides four means of contact, each activated simply by hitting a button:  1) an "I'm OK/check-in" message; 2) an "I am OK but I need some assistance" message; 3) a custom message where you might put a note such as "I am going to the East Pole and expect to be out no later than..."; and then the panic button:  You hit the SOS button and it calls out the troops.  You program the first three messages to go to up to 10 contacts either by email or text or both. Each message sent also includes the latitude and longitude location. The SOS goes to the closest rescue/emergency response agency according to the GPS position of your unit.  This one does not go to your contacts because the thought is that they might interfere with an SAR operation.  However their contact information does go to the rescue agency so they can be alerted if necessary.

In addition as part of the outdoors show promotion I received a free year of their tracking option.  As you are moving along, the unit sends a signal at intervals and this produces a map of your progress by those waypoints.  My official contacts will get this information automatically, but I have a "share page" on the company's web site where they also will be recorded and can be accessed by anyone I give the web address.  When I return from the trip I can pull up the map from that page and it will have my trail on it with the waypoints.  I can even add photos to go with the trip presentation. 

All in all, this is probably a good investment. If it stops people from worrying about me in the woods, or prevents an unnecessary rescue effort it is worth it.  And, on the (impossible, you know) chance I might really need help, well, I now have a panic button I can hit to call in the troops.  Given that I live alone in a fairly remote area anyway, this would serve the same purpose as one of those "I've-fallen-and-I can't-get-up" medical alerts. 

So, now, doesn't  that give us all a little peace of mind? 

The SPOT web site