Bob
Thank you for clarifying your post and making you position explicit.
...
If you are out in the wilderness, SOS may be the only way you can call for help. If you use SOS and later decide that you don’t need SAR, “Cancel SOS” may be the only way to communicate this. Why you sent the original SOS and why you changed your mind are irrelevant. What the sheriff should do or will do upon receiving the “Cancel SOS” is irrelevant. What you think the sheriff will do is also irrelevant. Sending the “Cancel SOS” is the best you can do with no other means of communication.
The concluding sentence is precisely what I consider irresponsible. Having a Spot with a cancel button does not make the Spot to only means of communication available. If the situation was significant enough to require calling for a SAR then it's worth doing whatever it takes, including hiking your butt to a trail head and getting into communication with the applicable authorities to close out the response. And you are right, that doesn't depend on why the call was made or what the sheriff has decided to do. Whoever made (or requested) the call bought into that responsibility when the call was made in the first place. I don't think the rules are different for people with cell phones or Spots or schedules they would like to keep. I believe that is what responsibility requires. I'll be whatever that makes me to those who suggest that the new technology removes the need for responsible behavior if it isn't as convenient as their new toy.
saltydog, that's my "Discuss."
Dale B. Dalrymple
Dale, you seem to have trouble expressing yourself clearly, as the silly questions and YMMV testify. Why didn’t you just say that you need to let the authorities know that you are OK as soon as you get out of the wilderness, even if you have sent a ”Cancel SOS”? I would have agreed with you. There was no need for you to start this pissing contest and call me irresponsible for clarifying Steve’s post.
You also seem to have trouble understanding simple English. The paragraph you quoted above began with “If you are out in the wilderness.” The entire paragraph, including the sentence you find so irresponsible, dealt with what you should do in the wilderness. When you are in the wilderness, sending the “Cancel SOS” IS the best you can do with no other means of communication. What course of action would be better? Sending nothing?
Finally, you seem determined to play the straw man game with me. As Steve said, “Leaving out any opinion is not supporting the idea of walking off without contacting the authorities.” I never even hinted that I thought sending “Cancel SOS” was all that you should do. It isn’t, but it’s better than nothing. As I said above, you need to let the authorities know that you are OK as soon as you get out of the wilderness, even if you have sent a ”Cancel SOS.”
If you find it necessary to attack me yet again, see if you can do it without deliberately misrepresenting what I said.
