Interior Mods – communications

3. Garmin InReach Mini

The InReach is a small satellite communicator. If you’re not familiar with these or why you should have one, I implore you to look into something like this! It will require you to purchase a subscription but I chose Garmin partly because they use the Iridium Satellite Network for tracking, messaging and S.O.S. This network has the best coverage throughout the world so you will be able to use it no matter where you go. Also, the Garmin subscription service can be utilized on a monthly basis (Freedom Plan) for when you are going to need it. I opted for a yearly plan that gives you constant coverage and a reduced rate from the monthly plan because I never know when the mountains will call next!

There’s a back story here leading to the purchase of the Garmin InReach Mini! I had taken a day trip to Lonesome Lake on Oct 9th of 2019 and ended the day having to walk over 12 miles from the backroads of Mt Rainier area to Hwy 410 until a nice couple picked me up and drove me to Enumclaw, WA to get help. I’ll cover and post this route in my Maps section. It’s a great drive with some awesome views.

After the breakdown, I was completely without communications with no way to call for help or to contact my wife to let her know I was ok. I almost spent the night in my Jeep as the sun was going down along with the temps and I didn’t quite know how far from help I was. I was lucky, everything turned out ok but right then and there I decided that I would never go back on the trails without some form of communication to cover me outside of cell range. I also plan to get my amateur radio license and add a ham radio to my arsenal in the future.