The Hiking Risk You Can't See (Because You Don't Know to Look)

Most hikers I talk to aren't worried about safety. Not because they've thought it through, because they assume it's covered. They've got a beacon, they've done the walk before, they know the area. And that confidence is exactly where the gap hides.

You can't prepare for a hole you don't know is there. That's the one that catches people out. The danger you never thought to plan for. You only find it when you're standing in it.

So let me share three close calls, and how to find your own gaps before the trail does…

We were on the Ben Lomond plateau in Tassie, an area we knew well. We'd taken a different way out, off-track, and the fog rolled in fast. Zero visibility, just like that.

When it cleared enough to show one peak, I couldn't place it. I had spent years in this area and my brain simply could not make it fit. Then we turned, saw the ski lifts, and knew exactly where we were, facing completely the wrong direction from what we'd assumed.

If that fog hadn't lifted, every step after would have been built on a wrong guess. The gap wasn't gear. It was assuming familiar ground can't turn on you.

Back in 2004 on Tasmania’s South Coast Track, we met a family in real trouble. They had a personal locator beacon sitting right there in their pack but they wouldn't press it. "We didn't want to make a fuss." the father had said.

They were airlifted out hours later anyway, after we told them to hit the button.

Carrying a beacon is step one. Being willing to use it is step two, and it's the one people skip. Pride has no place in an emergency. If you're really in trouble, press the button. That is literally what it's for.

You'd think decades of hiking would make you immune to this. It doesn't. It makes it easier to miss. You stop checking because you've done it before. You skip the conversation about what happens if someone gets hurt because it feels unnecessary. Confidence without a system is just comfortable gambling.

You don't need a mountain to do this. Sit down before your next trip and answer three questions honestly:

✅ If someone couldn't walk out, what's the actual plan? Not "we'd figure it out." Who carries the beacon, where is it, and what are your two nearest exits?

✅ Could you navigate if visibility dropped to nothing? Not "do I own a GPS." Could you use a map and compass with a dead phone and thick fog? If not, that's a skill gap, not a gear one.

✅ Have you agreed a plan for getting split up? Before you walk each day: where's the regroup point, and how long do you wait before you start looking?

If you can't answer one of those cleanly, you've just found your gap. And the kitchen table is a much better place to find it than twenty kilometres from the nearest road.

THAT’S ALL FOR THIS WEEK

Thanks for reading Mowser’s Musings. I hope this helps you hike further and happier.

Until next week, keep exploring.

Mowser

Discover more. Hike further.

P.S. If you worked through those questions and found a gap you want to close, the Multi-Day Readiness Quiz will show you the full picture before your next trip. Take the quiz here.