Lori, you can leave an accurate route of where you want to go off trail.

As far as not hearing about those who vanish, I don't think many do. I've heard of reports of hikers who were never found, but generally speaking it's not because they were off trail. It's because no one knew where to look, trail or no trail.

Either way, this is like every other decision you make while backpacking, you have to know your limits and skills and be careful and cautious.

Bushwhacking, like every other skill, is best learned with experience. For me, I started out not going very far off trail, and learning to read and remember the lay of the land and its unique features, and how to get back to where I started. I explored defined areas in detail and practiced and learned how to go further, and back. I focused on learning that skill, and I did it solo.

With experience you learn how to never be lost. I don't think this is some difficult to obtain skill, or gift. I think it's a matter of practice and experience.

We're talking about backpacking here. I can understand why some, even many, backpackers feel safer on a trail. I don't. I don't see how it makes me one bit safer. It doesn't protect me in any real way I can imagine. If you know where you are on a trail that makes you feel safe. I know where I am off trail, so I feel just as safe as you, and there's no real statistical evidence that I know of that proves me wrong.

It's not necessarily safer to be with another person. That depends on their skills. Even on a trail that other person could be endangered if you were injured, and in that case we might say it would have been safer to be solo.

Aside from that, there are too many great spots out there that no trail leads to. Why would I want to dismiss those just because of that? Some are only a few hundred feet off trail, even less, and almost no one ever visits them just because of that. It's not because they are dangerous in any way, it's just because there is no trail that goes there.

The only reason I started backpacking is because I wanted to go further and stay longer on my bushwhacks. If a trail gets me closer to some place I want to go I might take it, but otherwise I'm out there in the middle of it all.

If someone wants to learn and hone and take advantage of those skills I see no reason to discourage them. That's exactly the kind of person I'd be thrilled to go hiking with.

W_D did 140 miles of solo bushwhacking last Summer. It's not unsafe. You need to learn, practice, and gain experience to do what she did, but that's true for anything worth doing.

I understand your concern though. I suspect you tend see every newbie and most other backpackers as potential SAR missions, and with good reason. We all are.

If no one ever went, there would be no SAR missions, but that's not what we're seeking here. We're seeking how to do it right.