In Great Barrington, Mass., Rick Donovan, owner of an outdoor gear store near the Appalachian Trail, has grown accustomed to evening calls from campsites. They don't know how to set up their tent. Purists mourn the influx of links to the outside, decrying an assault on places once beyond the reach of account balances and voice mail. For others, wireless communications are a boon to safety. While those on the receiving end of rescue calls praise cellular phones as a tremendous advance, some fear they are also spawning a false sense of security, inducing the unprepared to push too far, believing that help can be ordered like a pizza.
People overlook that coverage is spotty in the woods.
They don't replace a pair of boots and they don't replace good common sense. Yosemite sits on a particularly tense wireless fault line. In range of Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay area, it attracts about 3 million visitors a year. Some are serious climbers and backpackers. Many are casual day hikers.