Hi, All:
I thought I’d share a recent experience I had as an assistant trip leader for a beginning backpacker group. To preface, there is no real “danger” involved here; we were in a local park that’s about 5 miles wide and 10 miles long, with inhabited houses all around. But, it’s a big woods, with about 8 miles of well-blazed loop trail, and perfect for taking folks out who have never backpacked. We use a frontcountry campsite, near the trail at the 6 mile point, because we can cache water there, it has outhouses, and we can leave a car there in case of an emergency. (We demonstrate water purification and catholes, but don’t make them do that until intermediate trips.)

We’ve done this twice a year for the last 6 or 8 years without incident - until a couple of weeks ago. It was a warm September Saturday, in the 80s, when we started. We had a planned stop about 3 miles in at a picnic area, for lunch with backcountry sanitation and LNT presentations planned. As usual, I was walking sweep; one of our participants was heavily overweight, but had started a walking regimen and was looking to backpacking as a way to increase that regimen. We knew the heat made it possible that she wouldn’t be able to hike the whole way. We also limited her load, putting her tent and sleeping bag in the car we would be putting at our campsite.

Sure enough, she struggled mightily and fell far behind, along with another woman who was feeling nauseous; we were half an hour late getting to the lunch spot. At that point, the trip leader asked me what I thought, and I recommended that one or both should not complete the hike (I didn’t want to risk heat exhaustion for either; I didn’t think the overweight hiker had the stamina to finish.) He agreed, as did the overweight hiker; the other hiker decided, after eating and drinking, that she could do the additional two hours to camp. So, I ate a granola bar and headed back to get my car - all went well, and I was back at the picnic area in about an hour, before they had finished and left.

That’s when things came off the tracks a bit. The main group set out, and the two of us headed toward the car. I saw a pack at the picnic table, but it didn’t register that I should stop the main group (it looked like the other assistant leader’s gear, and we all knew the trail like the back of our hand.) So, off we went to camp.

About an hour later, I got a call on my cell phone. (Yes, I hate them; I had mine on because the trip leader was using them as a means of communication among the leaders. I also hate fires, so he has me teach firebuilding - I believe he’s a closet sadist, but the real reason is he knows I’ll start by putting forth all the LNT, aesthetic, and laziness arguments agains fires.)

Anyhow, the call was from one of the participants. She was all alone at the picnic area. She had gone to fill her water bottle (without telling anyone), and when she got back, she saw the last two hikers disappearing through the wooden arch where the trail re-entered the woods. She tried to catch up, but got stumped at the fork in the trail a couple of hundred yards in, and returned to the picnic area to call me. Fortunately, it was an easy fix; I simply went back to pick her up and the trip went on.

Looking back, several things contributed to letting this happen. First, we were complacent because we’d never lost anyone before; we got a bit lax (see the takeaways below.) Second, when I dropped off the hike to go get my car, I was no longer walking sweep - and we didn’t tell the other assistant that she was now the sweep, so no one was checking to see if there was any gear or hiker not accounted for when they left. (It was a classic case of Everybody thought Somebody would do it, so Nobody did it.)

The rest of the trip was uneventful, and everyone had a good time (even the hiker who was temporarily misplaced; the leader did refund her payment, though.)

So, what are the things we should have done, but didn’t? These takeaways apply to any group hike, not just beginners:

1. Every member of the group should have his/her own map, and should know the hiking route and the destination. Each member should also know how to read a compass.
2. Everyone should be assigned a “buddy.” The rule is that you should always be able to see your buddy; if you can’t, let the leader know, get the group stopped, and find your buddy. (You may need to switch buddies if the hiking paces are too far out of sync, but this should be done at a rest stop, with everyone informed of the change.)
2a. If you’re sharing gear, your buddy could be the person with whom you’re sharing a tent or cooking gear, for simplicity.
3. Have a designated sweep; that person does not pass anyone else in the group. You can switch off who walks sweep, but again everyone should be informed.
4. The leader stops at any fork in the trail (or stream crossing with multiple unofficial paths that make it unclear where the actual trail is.) The leader does not go on until the entire group is together and headed the right direction. (If the leader heads the wrong direction, at least everyone is together.)
5. Each participant should be instructed to tell the group leader if (s)he has to leave the main group for any reason, even for a few minutes. (Courtesy of Mouse’s post below.)

We didn’t do numbers one or two, either of which would have really helped avoid this problem. We did number 3 - until I went back to get a car. And, the leader pretty much followed number 4 except he didn’t make a head count to be sure he had everyone (he always had on previous trips - like I said, we let our guard down a bit.)

Hope this helps all of you avoid this kind of thing.
Glenn