Without having seen all of the videos or news articles in this thread, here is my take on what went wrong...
1. My "guess" is that they did a late afternoon hike, went up the trail a ways, sat and watched the sunset and then decided to head back down. Water? Did they bring or did they bring enough...answer is probably no to both.
2. Without lights you can easily lose the trail because the brush is so thick.
3. Panic may have set in after losing "cellphone communication" and then trying to find that shortcut to get back to their vehicle.
4. During the daylight, they may have realized they were indeed lost complicated by the fact that they were not in an ideal location to get out or be spotted. Bad case of "foxtrot-kilo-tango."
5. When the sun is in the sky, it is unforgivingly hot. There is limited shade. The poor girl was so severely dehydrated she hallucinated thinking the falling dirt was water.
That one last phone call saved their lives.
