"Most hikers prepare only for what they expect. Safe hikers prepare for what they don’t expect.” Hubris [hy00-bris] noun: Excessive self-confidence. I am seeing a trend in wilderness travelers toward death by hubris – not hubris in the sense of arrogance, but of...
Hike Your Own Hike "Which of you men, if you had one hundred sheep, and lost one of them, wouldn't leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one that was lost, until he found it?” The Gospel of Luke “Hike your own hike.” It’s a phrase you see fairly...
The Case of the Missing Denominator As a long-time promoter of hiking safety education, the title of a recent web article caught my attention: “These Are the 5 Deadliest National Parks.” As a long-time SAR volunteer, I was happy to see that the article advised...
Last month, I supported a search for a solo hiker missing for six days above the snowline in Skagit County, Washington. As the mountain rescue teams started working their way up into their assigned areas, I loaded into the Spokane Sheriff’s helicopter, along with the...
Most hikers don’t realize it, but when they head out on the trail or into the wilderness, they carry with them a Risk Profile. What’s your hiking risk profile?
I began my SAR career focused on becoming the best K9 handler that I could be, Guy was drawn to the navigation and wilderness skills needed for SAR missions.
Sometimes we give up. Sometimes on SAR missions we return day after day, then week after week, without finding our lost person. The search is called off. Volunteers leave the scene in quiet resignation. Families leave the scene in despair. In the last six months here...
In November of 2020, a solo snow-shoer became lost while descending the Muir Snowfield on Mount Rainier. In the dark, ranger search teams climbed up in a snow storm, but were unable to locate him. The next morning, more search teams arrived, and in mid-afternoon the...
My very first article was published in a professional magazine (HRMagazine) almost exactly thirty years ago and it was titled: The Case For Valuing Diversity. At the time I was a young, idealistic first woman executive in a male-dominated utility and someone committed...
Many of our national parks in the U.S. contain large wilderness areas. Fifty of our national parks have designated wilderness areas, totaling over 40 million acres. Many of these wilderness areas are visited by many people every year. And every year, due to...