Garmin Inreach, communicate your plan!

[cody c]

This thread is to identify issues with using a communicator like Garmin InReach, to help identify proper planning prcedures and communicating with other parties. It is just a story of a recent trip, but should give you some ideas.


I was headed off for a week of hunting/camping with my parents, brother and some friends a couple weeks ago in Northern Alberta. I hadn't talked to them in a couple days but they get cell reception in most areas, not in the deep river valley of the peace river however. On the day i was to drive half way, i got an email:


As you can see, all I got was "help" and I am not familiar with Garmin InReach software....

After about 10 minutes I figured out how to find the lat and long on a google map, then figured out I just needed to click the garmin link to find the same location... In the middle of the river, 9 hours drive away. And I have no boat.

Cont'd:

 

[cody c]

So a few things went through my head, but it's easier to communicate it better like this.

Imagine your mother, father, partner, son or daughter sends you an email or note or text, you do not know how to contact them and don't have cell contact. The only thing you got was "help". And you could not drive to where they were for a day and did not know how to get to them. Run that through your head for a minute.

Anyway, my initial response was "oh crap... What do I got figure out now, is anyone hurt or in real danger???"

After mulling about it for a bit, I contacted relatives to see if there was anyone they knew with a boat in the area who could get up there. Nope...

I try to reply but get this:



Well, do I contact a conservation officer, RCMP or something? I get another email, one that simply says "stuck" and then this one:

 

[cody c]

So, they had friends that were either up camping, or where to be there sometime soon. I do not have their contact info, but they all have riverboats, the weather gets to about -5C (23F) at night, cooler on the river with the humid air. The days are short there, and you don't want to be stuck out on a cold river, possibly soaked overnight.

I knew they were planning to get out on the river, but didn't know they had, other than an assumption from the lat/long. I had been trying to reach their friends also with the boat, had been trying to find a number through friends of the parents, facebook etc from work to little avail. I found a number but it just went to voicemail. Was it a land line? were they in the river valley too? No way for me to find out...

 

[cody c]

It turns out, my parents, older, my father with a bad back (fused discs, titanium shoulder replacements), had also brought my brother (also a bad back), second cousin and a friend. Luckily for them.

They had driven up the river without problem, but on the way down they went around the wrong side of an island than the way they had traveled earlier. They found themselves on shallow ground.

When a boat "planes" it is up higher on the water. When stopped it sinks down below. They found themselves on the rocks in shallow water. The path down was very very long. The way back upstream was a couple hundred yardsor so till they were clear. Luckily they all had hip waders for the shallow water, found long poles, and the 4 fellas pried the boat up stream, at about an inch or two at a time, for a couple hundred yards or so. Apparently they could see where the boat had been dragged through by the "aluminum rocks" reflecting under the water after.

They made it out after alot of hard work, they all had gimpy backs by then, sore muscles, one hernia, and a hate for river boats.

I had decided to give them till 3:00 and then I was contact RCMP or others, the final email came at about 3:15, I decided to wait a bit longer. It worked out, they made it out, but I learned a few things.

 

[cody c]

Conclusion:

• Apparently my mother had typed a longer message with InReach, but it only delivered "help", but apparently she had thought she sent more details.
• Being unfamiliar with InReach, I had no way of responding.
• They had no plan communicated with me, or better yet with the others that had the boat about what they were doing
• They had no ETA with a follow up plan.
• I was their "backup plan", would have been nice to know, would have been smart to be familiar with the software
• We had never run a test scenario.

I was a bit ticked off, for the stress, hunting frantically to find contacts and phone numbers, and they were worried that I had called the search and rescue and could have gotten a big bill for it (which i didn't, but was inclined to make them think I had for a little bit).


So I bring this recent story up, the failings of my group for the success of yours in the future if you are more thoughtful than us.

My own personal story is that I do get out hunting out of cell range often in the fall, but more importantly I get out into some heavy winter wheeling into the ghost valley west of Calgary, there are huge snowdrifts, icy creek/river crossings, stuck and broken down vehicles, and then the "ice climbing" part of it. We had someone take a good fall and tear his achilles almost completely off the other year and had to get him out post haste, another story for another day.



What I'm getting at is there are risks associated with some trips, and in bigger ways if no cell coverage.

From my end I am forwarding this around to many in the "climbing and wheeling" groups to identify potential risks in poor planning, lack of planning, and depending on other who aren't familiar with the software, or don't check their email to see that the group has made it out safely.


Feel free to point out CONSTRUCTIVE criticism, things that we should be doing better. I've pointed out issues, obviously a clear plan should be created before we use SPOT or inReach as backup. And they don't work if someone isn't aware and prepared on the other end.

Please consider this before your next trip if you haven't already.

 

[GB_Willys_2014]

I have used my InReach to send detailed text messages on many trips so I wonder if perhaps your mom struggled with the clunky native mode device keyboard?

Also, you can send messages to the InReach user at the Garmin/InReach domain.

Anyhow, glad to hear everyone is okay.

 

[crazysccrmd]

Did you ever click the link that says it will open a browser with the ability to reply? Curious if that didn’t work for you. I haven't tried sending a message from mine to an email yet.

 

[1leglance]

I got one of the 1st Spot devices when they came out and tested it with my wife and friends before using it for real....loved it.
I got one of the 1st inReach devices when they came out and have even used it to track a race & chase trucks in Baja with my wife in Phx being command central.
The testing is the key, playing with something in your backyard is worth gold when the crap hits the fan.
Tech can save lives or cost them, but like any tool we need to understand it.

Great story and tanks for sharing.

 

[Ovrlnd Rd]

Also anyone using it should mate it to a smart phone via bluetooth. You can then type your text via the phone (whether there's a cell signal or not) and not have to use the clunky keyboard toggling around to the letters on the inReach.

 

[pluton]

Good of you to post this reminder about the importance of learning how to operate whatever comms are being used.
I'm also curious as to why you didn't reply (using the Garmin web interface) with a request for more details.

 

[GB_Willys_2014]

Also anyone using it should mate it to a smart phone via bluetooth. You can then type your text via the phone (whether there's a cell signal or not) and not have to use the clunky keyboard toggling around to the letters on the inReach.

FWIW, this can be a finicky thing too. My old phone did not easily pair up, and I just decided not to mess with it in the field.

That said, if it does pair, then by all means!

The native mode keyboard sucks.

 

[cody c]

Did you ever click the link that says it will open a browser with the ability to reply? Curious if that didn’t work for you. I haven't tried sending a message from mine to an email yet.

I did figure that out eventually, was probably half an hour or an hour later. For some scenarios that could be too long.

This info also posted in a thread on Ih8mud, someone posted that they had issues and needed to sync it in order update the software for it to work correctly.

For any of you that use one of these systems, be cognizant that you will need some time to test your system, update software, and communicate with your "plan B" peeps on the other end. This should not be done in the 11th hour before you depart, it may take time to sort out software, emails etc. Take care of it clearly so it doesn't get pushed off till after your past cell reception.

Stay safe on whatever trails you happen to find yourself upon folks...