> I'm still mystified how things went so badly.
Perhaps they wanted to find a private spot and then got turned around and did not head back the way they came in?
I recall a situation where a fellow got seriously lost around Sentinel Dome in Yosemite. He had walked off the trail for a couple of minutes, and then went off in the wrong direction when he tried to retrace his steps. I think he spent a night before they found him. Some people can get seriously lost if they go off a trail just a short distance. Does this sound like a possibility there?
