Of all the gear you carry into the backcountry, the one thing that most reliably shortens a rescue costs nothing and weighs nothing: a trip plan left with someone who will notice you’re overdue.
Search and rescue can only look for you if someone raises the alarm — and they can only look efficiently if that someone knows where to point them. Without a plan, the search area is the entire North. With one, it’s a valley.
What a trip plan is
A trip plan is a simple document you fill out before you leave and hand to a reliable contact. It answers three questions for whoever comes looking:
- Where are you going? Entry point, route, planned camps, and exit.
- When should we worry? Departure, expected return, and the exact time to call for help if they haven’t heard from you.
- What do they need to know? Who’s in the party, what vehicle or aircraft you’re using, what communications you’re carrying, and any medical details.
The fields that matter most
The alarm time. Not your expected return — the time your contact should call SAR if you’re silent. Build in a buffer for weather and slow travel, but make it concrete. “Sometime Sunday” is not a plan.
Bailout options. Write down your escape routes before you go. Knowing where you’d exit if the weather closes in turns an emergency into an inconvenience.
Comms carried. List your satellite messenger’s device ID, any sat-phone number, and radio frequencies. This tells rescuers how they might reach you directly.
Medical notes. Conditions, allergies, and medications that a rescuer or medevac crew should know about before they reach you.
Who to give it to
Pick someone reliable who will actually be home and paying attention on your return date — and who understands they’re expected to call for help if you go quiet. Tell them exactly what number to call: your local SAR, RCMP detachment, or the relevant park dispatch. In some regions that’s a specific number, not 911.
Make it a habit, not a hero moment
The reason people skip the trip plan isn’t that they don’t believe in it — it’s friction. So reduce the friction. Every checklist WayUpThere generates comes with a trip-plan sheet pre-filled with your route details. Print it, hand it over, and go.
Ten minutes at the kitchen table is the highest-leverage safety decision you’ll make all trip.