I think you are too easy on us. If I'm in need of help, I'm probably not where I'm supposed to be. Otherwise, someone would come along before I'm missed that can send for help.
The vast majority of hikers interviewed on the trail give incorrect information - people are very poor eye witnesses. In the case described above someone saw them out there but denied they were the missing people - they reported their ethnicity incorrectly.
Other hikers are poorly prepared to do anything to help other hikers. They do not often recognize symptoms of hypothermia or dehydration, because they do not know you personally to recognize when your personality is altered. Thus a man who died on Whitney two years back talked to other backpackers, who were aware that where he said he was going and where he was actually headed were two different things, but hiked out without taking action at that time to help him.
Next week, I'm headed out for a through hike of the Colorado Trail which means I will be out of contact for 4 or 5 days at a time and in areas without cell phone coverage. Chances are, someone will pass us each day to give minor assistance should we need it.
No guarantee of that.
Giving a detailed itinerary is really impossible except to give a friend a data book and a spreadsheet of where we expect to be along the trail. With the spreadsheet he should know where we plan to be virtually every hour on the trail. But that's not a lot of help if we accidentally get sidetracked on any number of wrong trails over a 5 day period before something happens. (We are planning to resupply every 4 or 5 days and MAY be able to call in.)
Without a general itinerary (where you are every hour isn't possible, no one expects that) SAR is unlikely to even send anyone out there. No one's going to spend resources and time chasing you when you have left no clue.
So I'm carrying a SPOT transmitter with me which can be monitored online. I have a trusted friend monitoring us and any help messages will arrive as a cell phone text. He will be able to give a detailed map of our progress to SAR. It updates our position every 10 minutes. Sure, sometimes it skips an hour in deep valleys, but he is smart enough to figure that out.
SPOT have failed. The itinerary is your backup. One fella wrote in a trip report I read last year that he managed to put his down on a rock somewhere and never found it again - the whole 2/3 of the cross country bonkers expedition went without a track log. But I'm sure that SPOT faithfully reported the location of that rock until the battery died.
I've talked to sheriffs in areas we are going to and the most likely response to a missing person situation is sending a couple horses out. With the SPOT, I can send a simple "Help" where that is sufficient or I can call 911 where it's a more serious medical problem. If he sees the spot transmitter move to an open area after sending the 911 call, he should suspect a helicopter is needed if possible.
I realize SAR people have lives too. They may be losing pay if looking for me, or it may come at an inconvenient time for them. They could also get hurt looking for me. If a rescue is needed, I feel a responsibility to make it as easy as possible.
Knowing I have the SPOT also makes it easier just to stay in one place if something happens knowing rescue would have a pretty good idea of where I am.
Sure, it's expensive, and not totally reliable. But in my pack, it's considered essential gear.
Again, leave the itinerary as a backup. Don't forget to leave a current picture and some description of your stuff. That helicopter going over may be going to investigate the other dozen tents out there without stopping at yours because you never bothered to tell us what color to look for.
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