Last updated April 12, 2019
Hikers are being warned not to rely on used cell phones when it comes to planning their jaunts. The warning comes after two more hikers had to be rescued from Mount Monadnock in New Hampshire in the United States after wandering off the trail and realizing that they had lost their way.
“They didn’t have anything with them and picked up the cell phone and called for the cavalry,” says Lt Todd Bogardus of Fish and Game. “They had no lights or rain gear. Simple things like that can get people out of their own predicament.” The pair mark the third incident so far this year of hikers losing their way, both previous times having occurred at Mount Lafayette. “What they believe will be a simple half hour hike turns into an ordeal if they twist an ankle,” Bogardus notes. “They need to be ready to stay out there for a while.”
Bogardus points to the hikesafe.com website which advocates ten items hikers should have them with at all times, including a first aid kid, flashlight, and a wind and rain jacket. Perhaps pointedly, a cell phone is not on the list. Bogardus points out that cell phones make it too easy for people to rely on them to be able to call for help and not take simple precautions themselves, while also adding that “Cell phone reception is very spotty when you get up into the mountains. They can’t be relied on.”