Rule # 2

Rule # 1 of any outdoor recreation is never go alone but, if you are like me and ALWAYS break rule # 1 you'd better adhere to rule #2. Rule #2, ALWAYS make sure you let someone know where you are going, an expected time you will be out AND a "worry" time. The worry time is critical.

Jodi always knows if I am not out by the time I told her to worry call the appropriate agency to begin a search or rescue. Adhering closely to this can make the difference in this being a rescue or it becoming a body recovery. I really don't want that!

I hike and bike alone ALL the time. I backpack alone. I've kayaked alone MANY times in bad conditions including after dark in very high winds and near dark when it was so cold and windy that all the water that splashed on me froze immediately and by the time I got out of the water my lifevest was a total sheet of ice. I've dived alone in the Mexican Carribean. And this year I plan to take a class in self-belaying so I can climb alone. BUT, Jodi will still always know my planned route and a worry time.

I do not change the trail I'm traveling or the route etc unless I am able to let her know. If I have cell coverage I will text it to her so she doesn't even have to write it down. If I do not get acknowledgment that she got the change I do not change.

This has been the way I've done things for as long as we've been together (except the cell phone part of course!) but it was drilled into my being even more as I was reading "Between a Rock and a Hard Place" the story of Aron Ralston, the young 20 some year old guy who went mountain biking, hiking and canyoneering in Utah without telling anyone where he was going (he lives in Denver, CO). I won't spoil the book other than just saying that his trouble started on Saturday afternoon and help did not get to him until Thursday afternoon. Read the book, it's great!