db indicated he wanted to know what we/I would do in a suddenly compromising camping situation.  I haven't had many bad situations to deal with...thankfully:

Twisted an ankle on the portage early in a group solo trip.  Luckily not long before we stopped on a nice Sturgeon Lake campsite.  Soaked it in cold water, hobbled and babied it and stayed in camp while others went on.  Then I cut my planned route short, rested a second day as weather was stormy anyway, and then started slowly back to my car while babying the foot and keeping loads light on portage.  It was hard to walk on at first but with rest, by the time I got back to the car 5 days later it was almost good as new.

Losing a paddle?  It hasn't happened to me yet.  I was impressed by one QJ members' account of making paddles on a trip post of lost canoe last summer/fall.  I have posted before of seeing a tandem in canoe paddling the Moose Lake chain very effectively with 3 inch birch limbs.

  There must be other, more serious stories others can  relate...

I also carry a SPOT.  One never knows when they will have a serious problem to be rescued from.  My family and friends like to watch my progress with the tracking feature and it reassures them, and me, of a way to call for help when solo paddling.
"Hope for the best but be prepared for the worst" is good advice.  That requires quite a bit of forethought and planning and carrying some extraneous stuff you might never use.  Newbies to canoe camping, not thinking of being DAYS from supplies or help, might not take many standard items which could be needed in a pinch.
Regarding losing a canoe  THAT would be awful.  I never get out of arm's reach of my boat without making sure it is tied to something.  If I did lose my boat I would first see if I could walk to it by taking the shoreline.  If on a known canoe route I could wait a day or two to see if someone else would happen by and help me locate the boat.  Once I used up all my food I guess I would have to hit the panic button.

I started one solo feeling under the weather and became real sick by days 3-5 one year. High fever verging on delirious kind of thing for a while. I'd have rather burned layover days at home but once I felt better my trip continued. Beyond that I've always been lucky I guess. A canoe decided to leave without me at the end of a portage one spring afternoon. Ten feet out was only crotch deep but it was a very good wake up call I've not forgotten.

The only injuries I've seen on trips were tweaked ankles and one bee sting where the guy's leg doubled in size. That was worrisome but it's also what layover days are for. And if you really think about it, yes, there is safety in numbers but it also increases your chances of a trip being hampered by illness/injury.

On the other hand, we saw a plane circle a few times and land on the lake we were at one day. When we got back to camp we found out one girl's dad had a heart attack at home and the family was able to have her found and flown out. That was a good reminder that sticking to an itinerary can be helpful for those at home too.

Last summer I was watching someone's Spot tracks that showed they were on the same lake for far too long. We knew one of them was somehow injured but it was the beginning of their trip so....

Last year too, one day the last "I'm traveling" mark from someone was 100 yrds out in the lake from his campsite. As I recall he lost interest in sending the "I'm OK" thingy for a few days after. I thought he accidently dropped it in the lake or something. Anyway, I was just glad their safety was not my responsibility. It's nice to know people are alive and moving around after worrying a while.

That last situation made me realize that I'd not use the "I'm OK" tracking feature to let my wife and kid follow along at home. I think the possibility for causing them undo worry is greater than any benefit they would get out of knowing I was alive but hurt or sick or something let alone having fun w/o them.

I guess I agree with causing concern, and why my sons who have both been on quite a few trips with me and on their own or with others are the arbiters of my Spot messages or any lack there of.  My wife has only gone once but has some sense of the land.

solotripper wrote on May 6^th, 2013 at 1:37pm:

I'd have to agree that sending an "in-between" message would probably cause more anxiety back home than help things. But after a year's experience owning a SPOT, both I and my wilderness-savvy, non-panicking wife agree that regular "I'm OK" messages are a good thing, and that the "SOS" button is likely to be more effective than anything she could initiate from home as well.

"I'm OK" is reassuring (and it really is a good idea for people back home to know roughly where you are), "SOS" gets you the emergency help you need fast, but I suspect anything else that suggests you have problems but doesn't specify what they are is unlikely to have much benefit. Is it a touch of flu? A broken leg you're hoping will heal in a couple of days? Signs of an incipient zombie apocalypse?

Stuck on a lake for too long probably won't give your loved ones  a warm feeling, but if they know you have an SOS button if you need it, they should be willing to take your "I'm OK" messages at face value. If not, maybe they weren't ready to deal with your going in the first place.

One solution is to get the kind of SPOT unit that lets you send short text messages. I just have the cheap SPOT-2 though, and use the "Custom Message" button to mean "Decided to delay schedule (FYI only)." Usually this means I'm windbound or stormbound, or I'm encountering excessively good weather and fishing plus a five-star campsite. I guess it could also mean something like "I'm puking my guts out in the bushes", but I haven't needed it for that yet.

But you do have to remember to send the daily messages: no news is (maybe) bad news!