Broken leg, 6 days alone and rescued

The difference between the backpackers of today and Norman Clyde… is a broad chasm – there are no Norman Clydes today. Going for a week per year for a few decades vs. living in the backcountry – the wilderness rangers, out there through the three seasons when most tourists visit, have more in common with ol' Norm than a peakbagger racing along in tennis shoes and wearing three liters of water and sunscreen.

Search teams sometimes find the bones of people who are also not Norman Clyde while searching for presumed living subjects… comparing the modern backpacker to the likes of Clyde, Muir or other mountaineers of yore, or the many sheepherders that wandered the range and sometimes died out there, is silly.

If you don't have the time to be Norman Clyde, a PLB is not a bad idea.

@ Kerry Wilson – you say:

"…they are jeopardizing the lives of many dedicated men and women who can easily die trying just to find a lost or injured soul, let alone effecting a rescue…he also demonstrates a lack of understanding that this isn't just about him. Its one thing to decide to risk your own life, more power to ya, but its another to do so without regard to those whom you will rely on to try and help you when your risk goes bad…There are many widows and orphaned children who's spouse or parent were lost trying trying to effect a rescue of an unprepared individual and yet they get no mention."

First of all, your post is extremely over-dramatic. Second of all, as an ex-emergency responder myself, let me make this very clear to you – NOBODY in the field of emergency response is going to think like you are thinking, and your thought process basically goes against everything we/they believe(d) in.

Emergency responders do it because they care, because it helps people, and because it makes them feel good to help people. Emergency responders are there JUST FOR THIS REASON. They know they are putting the lives of those they rescue in front of theirs many times. Others simply won't take certain risks if they don't want to, but you'd find almost anyone in this field is "selfless." Might be worth looking that word up so you understand.

No Emergency Responder would approve of you ranting at the hiking community about being rescued. (Unless it was about false rescues – people using PLB's because they are cold or tired or got lost because of idiocy.) People like the guy in this article did "nothing" wrong at all, and this is exactly why emergency responders go to work each day. They live for those moments.

Making a point that there are "many widows" in response to a hiker who was in need of rescue is *almost* funny… at the very least, it was over-dramatic. The hiker doesn't owe you or anyone else anything other than a "thank you for saving me." He doesn't need to write some essay about how he failed miserably by being injured while hiking to appease your need to not inconvenience rescuers. I think you feel passionately and mean well, but the things you say are just way too intense and unnecessary.

Thank you, Adam. For your post, and especially for your service in the past.

Thank you, although I was just a humble lowly fireman and volunteer emergency responder for a few years, the biggest rescue we undertook was searching for a lost toddler in a 1-2 acre backyard… the toddler ended up being alseep on the couch under a pile of pillows! I just thought it made sense to share that selfless perspective, and that of those I know who are constantly in more danger than I ever was in my few years of volunteer service. The industry is FULL of people who gladly put others in front of themselves, and would never want anyone to feel guilty about needing to be saved. (Again, unless it was one of those PLB moments where someone is being really selfish or unprepared.)