Saw a story this morning about a hiker who was rescued in California after getting lost while hiking the Santa Rosa mountains. For those of us who have done a lot of wilderness hiking, we know this can happen pretty easily — especially on poorly maintained trails.

In this case, the solo hiker had prepared for something just like this and brought enough extra food, water and supplies to allow for an unplanned overnight stay. That being said, it’s hard to imagine how he got himself two miles away from the trail and facing 200 foot cliffs.

As I have always said, it is especially crucial for solo hikers to have a GPS, compass or maps to help them plot their location and route and should really consider the SPOT GPS locator so they can signal for help if they do become lost of injured.

This hiker was lucky he was spotted by search planes, but he could have planned a little better to ensure that he never got into the situation to begin with.