Radio traffic is teaching me at least one thing: the International Radio Alphabet. You never know when you may need this, so today’s assignment is to spell your name in radio alphabet. [Extra credit: spell a friend’s when you meet him/her: “Hi, Sierra Uniform Echo!”]
Flip the radio switch to “scan” and there are hours of entertainment in the county: loose dog terrorizing Main Street, 6-year-old boy missing at a park trailhead, routine traffic stops (which can turn un-routine in a blink), the solar panels malfunctioning in the campground, or a mountain bike accident with victim bleeding from nose and ears. Usually I hike without ‘scan’ turned on; it becomes intrusive. Wilderness isn’t the same with the dispatcher’s voice wantonly interrupting my thoughts, but it sure is nice to know I have a lifeline in my backpack.
Ranger Kathryn's Arches 