09/28/2026
"Sometime after lunch" is one of the most common phrases in trail incident reports. It's also one of the least useful. ⏱️
When something goes wrong on a hike, a school trip, or a college outing, the report you write becomes the story everyone else relies on. Search and rescue arrives knowing nothing about your group. Medical staff weren't there. Your program director reads it days later. Your report is the bridge between what you saw and what they need to decide next.
Here's what experienced trip leaders make sure to capture:
🕐 Time of onset. This is when the injury happened or the first symptoms appeared. It shows whether someone is getting worse or holding steady, and that can decide between a carry-out and a helicopter.
📍 Exact location. GPS if you have it, landmarks if you don't, plus weather and trail conditions.
🩹 Every action, with a time next to it. First aid, medications given, and changes in how the person was doing.
🙅 Anything refused. If a client declined care or refused to turn back, write it down.
🧠 Your reasoning. Note why you stayed, moved, or called for help. It shows your decisions were thoughtful, not random.
The hard part is doing all this with no signal. Paper gets wet and lost, and phone notes end up scattered. That's why we built Clear ePCR, incident reporting software with no installation needed. It works offline on any phone, tablet, or laptop and syncs automatically once you reconnect.
We wrote a full guide on what SAR and your program need from you. Link in the first comment 👇
