Plan your next adventure
Choose a realistic route and leave a useful plan with someone at home.
In this guide
Choose a trip for the whole group
Match the route, distance, elevation change, and conditions to everyone’s fitness and experience. Check official access information, permits, weather, and seasonal hazards. Decide on a turnaround time and an easier backup option before leaving.
Start together. Stay together. Finish together.
Everyone goes together.
Keep the group together. Do not send someone back alone.
Agree before leaving: if one person wants or needs to turn back, the whole group turns back together. This applies to pairs as well as larger groups. Do not send someone back alone or leave a tired person behind while others continue to the destination.
- Set a pace everyone can maintain. Let the slowest person lead or stay near the front. Check how everyone is feeling and take breaks together.
- Keep track of each other. Use a buddy system and regroup at trail junctions and route changes in safe places. Confirm that everyone is present before moving on.
- Make speaking up easy. Anyone can ask to stop or return without pressure to continue. Fatigue, discomfort, uncertainty, and a wish to head back are all reasons to reassess.
Staying together helps prevent someone from becoming lost without their companions nearby to assist. If someone cannot return safely, stop in a safe place, call 9-1-1, and follow the dispatcher’s instructions.
Leave a written trip plan
Share it with a trusted person who is not joining the outing. Include:
- Who is going and how to contact them.
- Your trailhead, planned route, destination, and backup plan.
- Your expected return and check-in time.
- Vehicle details and useful equipment or medical information.
- What your contact should do if you do not check in.
The National Park Service provides a trip-plan template. Agree that your contact will try to reach you if you are overdue and contact authorities if they cannot. If there is reason to believe someone is in immediate danger, call 9-1-1.
Keep the plan useful
Tell your contact before changing your route when you can, and check in when you return. An outdated itinerary can send a search in the wrong direction.
At the trailhead, take a final moment together: confirm the route, check equipment, and make sure everyone understands the backup plan. Reassess if the conditions or group’s readiness differ from what you expected.
Keep building your skills
Explore the full guide collection for preparation, navigation, and seasonal topics.
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