Hey Isabelle - thanks for all the information. Yeah I like to think through all the possible scenarios beforehand so that if in the unlikely event something bad does happen, I've already figured out a basic plan for what I'd need to do.

Love the idea about the tarps - I suppose a tent could work well too, or a sleeping bad in a pinch. I hadn't ever thought of that.

A vet tech was telling me the other day about a crazy incident that happened to his dog once 8 miles out in the wilderness. The dog fell in a swollen creek and got washed down a big waterfall onto a granite slab and then down through several more pools before the guy was able to get him out. Miraculously, the dog survived, though as you can imagine, he was pretty beat up and had a broken leg, a broken canine, torn off nails, etc. Too make a long story short, he and his son made a stretcher out of their 2 backpacks and carried the 90lb dog out. He said it took them 11 hrs to do the 8 miles, but they finally managed to get him out and to the vet. Years later, he's still ok and alive and well!

Ps. I'll check out the Spot messenger. I've heard it's pretty good and that a lot of people carry it in addition to the personal locator beacon so that they have all those other cool features and maximum possible coverage between the 2 devices