My 18-year-old son recently took up hiking. Prior to his first solo trip, an 8km hike completed without incident, his mother and I strongly suggested that he bring along my ACR ResQLink 400 PLB, which I use for solo hunting. Despite some initial eyerolling, he listened to our advice. On his second outing at Evans Peak trail, he decided to bring a friend along.

The day started beautifully, with clear skies and no indication of inclement weather until around 4:00 p.m. By 5:30 p.m., we hadn’t heard from the boys, so we decided to head to the park where they were hiking to see if we could find them. When we arrived at the trailhead around 6:00 p.m., we were greeted by steady rain and darkening skies. Just then, I received a phone call from provincial SAR—they had activated the beacon.

Unfortunately, the call dropped due to spotty reception in the area.

I drove back to an area with better reception and returned the call. The SAR station provided me with the coordinates transmitted by the beacon. We immediately called 911 to have the local police coordinate with the SAR team to initiate a search. Thankfully, the boys still had a phone with battery life and managed to find a window of reception to call us. We instructed them to stay put and seek shelter.

Local volunteer SAR teams were on the scene and ready to deploy within 2 hours. Remarkably, the boys were back in the parking lot just an hour later. The SAR team had sent a text message to the friend’s phone and received a ping back, confirming the location transmitted by the beacon.

Upon their return, the boys explained that they had lost the trail as the weather worsened and daylight faded, prompting them to activate the beacon. Despite being close to the trail and only a few kilometers from the parking lot, the situation could have become dire without the beacon.

The presence of the beacon proved invaluable, allowing for immediate communication of their need for help without relying on cell reception and providing a focused area for the search. I purchased the beacon at my wife’s urging, never expecting it to be activated. I’m incredibly grateful now that I did.