Staff Desolation Wilderness, South Lake Tahoe, CA. You don’t need to go to Alaska to get far enough off the grid to want a satellite communicator. Photo: Eric Ward//Unsplash There are few worse situations I could imagine then being lost or injured in the backcountry and unable to call for help. These days, that’s a pretty remote concern with a cellphone in my pocket that I use for basically everything. However, there are situations when your phone goes dead, you’re out of cell service and if things go pear shaped, you’ll be, as they say, up an arctic creek without a paddle. If you’re an outdoorsy person, or spend a significant amount of time off the grid, the chances of something like that happening go way up. So why not just carry around a paddle, a.k.a. a satellite communicator, with you at all times? Also called a satellite messenger, these GPS-enabled devices have basically replaced satellite phones, probably because nobody talks on the phone anymore anyways. With a satellite communicator, not only can you call for professional help via S.O.S., but you can also keep your friends and family updated on your whereabouts.