Experience is good, but wisdom is needed
By DAN NEIL
Do backcountry electronics offer a false sense of security? ACR —the maker of the Microfix locator beacon — advises customers not to rely on the device to save them from their own overconfidence.
Yet it seems inevitable that some users will go farther, turn around later, climb higher and generally bite off more adventure than they can chew, knowing they can call in the Marines if they need to.
I might be in this category. I have a fair amount of backcountry experience, but a six-day solo in California’s Mojave desert is an aggressive program.
Would I try this without the deus ex machina in my backpack? I don’t think so.
Too much trust could be dangerous. Yosemite search-and-rescue manager Keith Lober tells me GPS readings can be significantly corrupted by atmospheric and electronic interference, so that, for instance, a locator beacon might give rescuers an area of 10 square miles to search. It can take hours to zero in on a signal.
To some extent, the beacon is the outdoor equivalent of the Medic-Alert thing they advertise on TV — a high-tech solution for affluent adventurers old enough to be aware of their own mortality. And what if I did have a heart attack out here or threw a clot in my sun-scrambled brain?
Would I even have the time, as I timbered to the ground, to flip the plastic guard on the locator beacon out of the way and hit the button, the button that says, “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up”?