Recently on a solo hike out to a hut in Te Urewera, after a fluke accident I found myself with a broken leg in a remote dense forest, hours from the trailhead. Even though it was the first day of winter I was quite fortunate that I had passed four other hikers along the way so I knew help wasn’t too far away. The first two hikers helped get me stabilised and then the most important thing was to call for help. None of us had an emergency signal on our phones so we hoped the two other hikers had a beacon. Fortunately they arrived just a few minutes later and deployed their PLB while the other two hikers hiked out to find a field officer they had seen earlier in the day. Within in an hour the hikers and field officer joined us and we received the good news that the beacon signal had been received and search and rescue (SAR) were on alert and a helicopter was on its way. Unfortunately as the sun went down the wind picked up and a helicopter rescue was not possible. All we could do was wait for the SAR crew to arrive to hike me out.

In the end it was nine hours between the accident and getting out of the bush to an ambulance with a paramedic. Thank goodness as experienced hikers, the others on the trail and I had all the right gear and emergency equipment to keep me warm, dry and manage the pain, however in a situation where time is of the essence the beacon shaved hours off our time in the bush which could have been critical. 

Being prepared requires thinking about any situation that may arise while in a remote location and going forward I will always have a beacon on me when going out into the bush.