Trail Safety: How to Hike Smart and Get Home

Build a trip plan, every time

Before you leave home, write down: the trailhead, the route, your turnaround time, and your expected return. Leave it with a person — not in a note on your phone that nobody can read. Tell them when to call 911 if they haven't heard from you.

For trails inside a national park or wilderness area, sign the trailhead register on the way in and on the way out. Search-and-rescue teams use them to triage who is actually missing.

Read the weather, then re-read it

Mountain weather lies. The town forecast is often 20 degrees warmer and 30 mph calmer than the summit. Use specialized forecasts:

• Mountain-Forecast.com for elevation-specific summit conditions worldwide.
• NWS Higher Summits Forecast for the White Mountains.
• NOAA point forecasts with the elevation set to your actual high point.

Check the night before AND the morning of. If the forecast shifted, your plan should shift too.

Lightning protocol

Above treeline, lightning is the most dangerous weather you'll face. In the Rockies and Sierras, afternoon thunderstorms are nearly daily from late June through August.

• Be off exposed ridges and summits by noon. No exceptions.
• Count seconds between flash and thunder: every 5 seconds = 1 mile away. Under 30 seconds, take cover immediately.
• If caught exposed: drop low, separate from your group by 20+ feet, crouch on your pack with feet together. Do not lie flat.
• Avoid the highest object in any landscape — single trees, ridges, summits, open meadows.

Wildlife encounters

Black bears: stand tall, make noise, look big. Do not run. Back away slowly. Black bears are almost never aggressive unless cornered or food-conditioned.

Grizzly bears (Rockies, Yellowstone, GTNP, Glacier): carry bear spray, accessible — not buried in your pack. If charged, deploy spray at 30 feet. If contact is made, play dead on your stomach, hands behind neck.

Mountain lions: never crouch or run. Make eye contact, raise your arms, make yourself look enormous. Throw rocks. Fight back if attacked.

Snakes: watch where you step and where you put your hands, especially on rock scrambles in the Southwest. Most bites happen when people try to handle or kill the snake — just back away.

Moose: more people are injured by moose each year than by bears. Give them 50+ yards. If they pin their ears back or raise the hair on their neck, get behind a tree.

River and stream crossings

• Cross in the morning — snowmelt-fed creeks rise dramatically by afternoon.
• Unbuckle your hip and sternum straps before stepping in, so you can ditch your pack if you fall.
• Face upstream, use a sturdy stick or trekking poles, and shuffle sideways. Never cross above a strainer (downed log) or rapid.
• If the water is above your knees and moving fast, turn around. No crossing is worth a drowning.

If you get lost: STOP

The acronym every hiker should memorize:

• S — Stop. Sit down. Don't keep walking in the wrong direction.
• T — Think. When did you last know where you were? What landmarks do you remember?
• O — Observe. Pull out your map. Look at the terrain — peaks, drainages, the sun's position.
• P — Plan. Either backtrack to your last known point, or stay put and signal. Wandering off-trail is the #1 mistake.

Three of anything is the international distress signal: three whistle blasts, three flashes of a headlamp, three small fires in a triangle. Repeat every 2 minutes.

Hypothermia and heat illness

Hypothermia is the silent killer — it can hit at 50°F in wet, windy conditions, not just in winter. Early signs: the "umbles" (stumbles, mumbles, fumbles, grumbles). Stop, add layers, eat, get out of wind. Don't push through.

Heat exhaustion warning signs: nausea, headache, pale and clammy skin. Stop in shade, drink with electrolytes, douse your head and neck. If symptoms progress to confusion or hot dry skin, that's heatstroke — a true emergency. Cool aggressively and call for evac.