Hiker safety is every member's responsibility.

The Trails Club tries to think of as many hiker safety issues possible before we leave on a hike. Unfortunately, as you know, accidents happen or somebody doesn’t feel well enough to complete a hike. Every year we have several incidents which were simply accidents or health issues, and of course we don't always have a medical professional in our group.

We try to cover as many eventualities as we can and for your safety and enjoyment. To that end, the following are put out for each hiking group on the Sign-out table Hike leaders MUST pick up and carry or have somebody else in the group carry all three items below:

1. Two way radios: These are imperative because many people either don’t carry a cell phone or they have an older model which doesn’t do satellite texting for calling 911. It is extremely important that in a large group of hikers the Leader can contact the Sweep. Very often we are out of cell-phone range but somebody may have needed to stop, first aid provided or emergency services contacted by someone who has an updated cell phone.

2. Updated first aid kits: The list of contents is attached with extra items for various situations. Sometimes we are fortunate enough to have a medical professional in our group but usually we have to rely on our basic first aid training to handle a situation.

3. The signup sheet: Necessary for identifying who has volunteered to drive a carpool as well as a list of participants' cell phone numbers. Useful to contact drivers if a carpool doesn't show up at the trail head parking location.  Also used to verify # of hikers when counting off.

Remember - make sure every hike leader carries or has another hiker carry the above three items on every hike.