I was hiking the Narrows trail along the Rockcastle river in Kentucky’s Daniel Boone National Forest, slipped off the edge of the trail and broke me ankle. There was no cell phone service so I ended up butt-crawling a ways on the trail (crutches I hacked together made things worse with weak wood out there) until I finally raised a faint signal. Texted 911 (so thankful they have this service for the deaf), helped their volunteer rescue squad locate me by boat on the river below and their wonderful firemen hauled me down the mountain with good cheer.
Lucky man. Reaching an area with cell phone reception was not impossible, and the distance to cover was still feasible.
Reading stories like this doesn’t make me as nervous as it did before I took the plunge and got a Garmin InReach Mini and then joined CAI, so I would have insurance coverage for emergency rescues.