Fatigue is No. 1 cause for lost hikers in backcountry

Out of shape. Unprepared. Errors in judgment. Those are some of the top reasons people get in trouble while exploring America’s national parks, according to the 2012 National Parks Service Search and Rescue Report.

The report details statistics from search and rescue missions across the entire Park Service.

The No. 1 contributing factor, the report found, was people were fatigued or simply in poor physical condition when they embarked on a journey. That was a contributing factor in nearly a quarter of all search and rescues. About 19 percent of people had insufficient information or made errors in judgment, and about 13 percent had the wrong equipment or clothing or lacked experience.

All told, the Park Service conducted 2,876 search and rescue missions in 2012 with 143 fatalities.

The young and the old get in the most trouble. About one out of every five were for people between 20 and 29 years old. Nineteen percent of rescues were for people over 60.

Rescues are also expensive. About 28 percent cost more than $500, and total costs nationwide were about $5.19 million. The report does not break out statistics by park.

The Park Service does an excellent job of finding people — more than 96 percent are found within 24 hours and 1.88 percent are found between 24 and 48 hours. One-half of one percent were never found.

Nearly half the people who get in trouble are just day hiking. About 10 percent get in trouble while boating. One half of one percent were mountaineering without a rope and 3 percent were mountain climbing or scrambling up hills.

About one fourth of all people who get lost are in mountains between 5,000 and 15,000 feet tall. And people use cell phones about 40 percent of the time to call for help.

A popular misconception is that helicopters and aircraft are the primary way of finding people. The report found that 63 percent are found by searchers on the ground.