Heading out for a hike? Be ready, just in case (6 photos)

Technology is a great gift to safety.

Heading out into the great outdoors — which has become a popular attraction during the pandemic — always presents an element of risk where you’re almost entirely self-reliant.

And although Simcoe County’s wilderness is never too far from an urban environment, exploration of local trails can present challenges.

That’s where a bit of preparation and technology come into play.

But the first thing to do, says Shawn Gibson, president of Georgian Bay Volunteer Search and Rescue (GBVSR), is to let others know where you’re going.

“Make sure somebody knows where you’re going,” said Gibson, not to be confused with the BarrieToday reporter bearing the same name. “If they don’t show up or don’t come back, they can simply provide that information to police.

“So it’s not that 127 hours when nobody knew where he was.”

GBVSR not only goes into action when summoned by police to assist with a search or rescue, but also offers safety programs. The organization’s adventure smart program has a trip planner in its app, which includes details such as the destination, timeline and others in the group that you can email to a friend.

Other important elements emphasized in the program is to pack the essentials like a fully charged phone, water, map, whistle, food, clothing and knowing what you’re going to be doing.

In addition to checking the weather and becoming familiar with the area, you’re going to by checking out a map, Gibson suggests staying within one’s own limitations — if you have no rock-climbing experience, for instance, perhaps a solo trip is not the best time to scale a rock face.

Then there’s the technology.

“The what3words app is brilliant,” he says, because it allows you to quickly find your location and share it if you need help.

That’s when it becomes important to pack a fully charged phone.

“It will give you an exact location of where you are," Gibson says. 

GBVSR also offers weekly suggestions through its Tips Tuesdays on Instagram.

Given everything that’s now available, the highly trained crew GBVSR isn’t summoned frequently to conduct searches, but its mandate also includes safety and protection.

The volunteers actively put their search skills to work when a 72-year-old woman with dementia wandered away from her north-end Barrie home in February 2017. The city-wide search extended into different areas. Sadly her body was discovered a year later at an Oro-Medonte Township golf course, just outside the city limits.

Project Lifesaver was launched in Barrie shortly afterward and is administered by the GBVSR in an effort to prevent similar tragedies.

A tracking device is contained in a watch-sized bracelet designed for vulnerable adults. It emits a unique FM radio frequency signal that allows officials to find people through a satellite receiver.

They were also involved in a search in Algonquin Park where two young women who became lost were found. They were on hand following a tornado in Midland, as well as flooding in Bracebridge.

The organization’s volunteer members are also active at local events offering help and promoting their safety programs including Barrie’s annual New Year’s Eve festivities where they run a lost child program and running children I.D. clinics at Celebrate Barrie.

“Ideally, we’d love to see a world in Simcoe County where no one gets lost,” says Gibson.