By Dan Groebner

With the recent news of tragedies in the Grand Canyon and Nepal, where flash floods killed many people, some hikers and hunters might ask, could that happen around here in the White Mountains? There are certainly narrow canyons in some areas that recent wildfires have stripped of vegetation and heavy rain has saturated.

However, most of our area canyons do not funnel as much area for collecting rain in the watershed upstream because we are at the headwaters of many watersheds, but we certainly can experience localized flash flooding on a smaller scale.

In other parts of our state, storms can drop their precipitation miles away, with blue skies above you, but if you are in a slot canyon or dry wash downstream, it could be just a matter of minutes before the surge of the flash flood reaches you. Getting to higher ground as soon as possible is the advice always given when you suspect a flash flood might be approaching. They say if you wait until you can see the flood surge, it could be too late.

Even if we don’t get slot canyon flash flooding here in the White Mountains, we can experience normally dry raging washes and super soggy roads that get us stuck and make ruts. Fortunately, there is one technique for crossing a fast-flowing wash that always works. Wait until the flow recedes. You may not have to wait that long, but to kill some time you can always turn around and look for another drier route.

Sudden, intensive thunderstorms can catch campers and hunters already in the woods and prevent their exit without getting stuck somewhere along the two-track road they used to get to their secluded campsite. This is probably mostly an inconvenience if you’ve packed some extra supplies.

But what would you do if you buried your vehicle in a road that turned to swamp overnight and you don’t have a cell signal? Or how about needing a rescue if you get turned around hiking and can’t seem to re-find your vehicle?

Hopefully, you have told somebody where you’re going and when you should be back, if for no other reason than to give you just a small peace of mind and let you enjoy your outing even more. The other tip that saves lives is to try and stay with the vehicle for shelter and visibility unless you know you are only a short distance from help. If you make the mistake of leaving the vehicle, especially if it’s raining or snowing, you’ve made a poor decision.

So do you have to just sit there playing games on your phone in your vehicle (offline, of course), waiting for your backup plan to kick in with the person you told about your outing to finally realize that you are past due? Absolutely not.

The new iPhones and most of the latest Android versions allow for emergency communication through satellites when cellular service is not available. iPhones will not allow the satellite link until you’ve lost the cell signal, but you can still see how it works and practice with a simulated demonstration. Android smartphones may work differently depending on the model, so you should test them out before you need them. But are smartphones as good as dedicated emergency communication devices like the popular Garmin inReach personal location beacon?

Smartphones have certainly come a long way with navigational features leveraged by easy-to-use applications and efficient miniature GPS receivers. Some phones are almost scuba certified and with a good case can withstand some rough handling. However, their batteries are always limited by the hungry GPS and nice colorful touchscreen, so you almost always need a backup power supply to power or recharge your phone mid-adventure.

Even if you remembered to switch to Airplane Mode when out of cell range to conserve battery power, a charged power bank might be needed to plug your phone into. Unfortunately, the emergency satellite link rarely includes internet access, so maps needed to navigate on your smartphone need to be downloaded for offline use prior to losing internet access.

That’s where dedicated GPS or inReach devices show their value if you spend significant time outside needing some navigational backup services, just in case your own internal inertial measurement unit takes a nap and misses some important segments of your hike! Besides having more robust batteries, most of these units are powered by replaceable AA batteries, which are smaller and lighter than bulky power banks. The inReach device, as well as some other satellite communicators, allows short text messages to be sent, allowing updates in non-emergency situations.

It may be one more piece of equipment to learn how to use and remember to bring, but a dedicated GPS or emergency communication device like the Garmin inReach could be well worth its weight in dark chocolate-covered espresso beans.

Do these devices actually work, and is it worth sending an SOS on an iPhone or emergency beacon device? Summarized information from search and rescue agencies seems to show that these devices are effective and change the types of rescues that people are asking for.

Nation-wide, as well as in our area, most call-outs in the past were because people strayed off the road or trail they thought they were on. In a vehicle, many people run out of gas before admitting they are lost and should turn around and retrace their route, or they keep traveling on more and more sketchy roads until they get stuck. The best thing to do then is to stay put, make yourself or vehicle highly visible from the air, and stay dry and warm.

However, with more cell phone towers, satellite connectivity, and sometimes even using two-way radios, over 10 percent of people are now rescuing themselves or getting friends and family to help before official agency search and rescue personnel get involved. Unfortunately, when rescue is needed now, helicopters respond in about a third of the cases for serious injuries or other medical conditions, such as altitude sickness or heart and breathing problems. Search and rescue agencies still respond with ground resources in thousands of missions each year across the US for lost, wandering, and injured people.

Even if you have the latest high-tech rescue technology and paid your lifetime subscription to the satellite locator device, everybody needs to be prepared for a fall monsoon downpour of rain just a few degrees short of freezing if caught outdoors. With hot, humid afternoons, our cotton shirts and shorts can help keep us cooler when they get saturated. But when the temperature drops below 70, many people can get chilled if they remain wet. Over 1,000 people die from hypothermia each year in the US, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Being wet and exposed to even a gentle wind can be dangerous over extended periods. So the idea is to stay dry in the first place with synthetic wicking clothing other than cotton as your base layer against the skin and preferably a breathable waterproof jacket or windbreaker that can be easily packed and brought on every hike or outing, just in case. A polypropylene or other synthetic fleece upper layer should be in every backpack this time of year. A wool or fleece beanie-type hat can substitute for a full head of thick hair if needed.

Everybody knows we need as much precipitation as our area can handle without flooding, so for this year at least: “No Snifling ‘Bout the Rain”.

Fall monsoon rains are almost always “refreshingly” hypothermic cold, but we have the clothing and technology to be prepared. You might have to plan your hunt scouting trip or next hike during the morning to avoid the most violent afternoon thunderstorms. Local radio stations broadcast all severe weather warnings so you can be prepared. But if somehow you find yourself in a wet monsoon pickle situation, the trick that has the most success is usually to “Stay Calm and Stay Put.”