Most problems are a town day, a hitch, or a night of sleep. SOS is for the ones that are not.
- Self-rescue first. Can you walk to a road, a shelter, or a known water? Can you wait out weather? If yes, that is the plan.
- SOS. Life-threatening injury, inability to self-rescue, or conditions that will become that soon. Be ready to say where you are, what happened, and how many.
- Bailing is a skill. A blue-blaze to a road, a slack pack, a skip, a season. Getting off well is part of staying a hiker. Personal reasons were 16% of PCT quits in 2025, and the leading CDT quit reason. That is not failure. That is a life.