A few years ago, I was on a search for some guys who were overdue following a severe fall rain and snowstorm. They were eventually spotted at the top of a waterfall. They had a GPS with them and, getting to a trail intersection, saw that the GPS said it was only about 3 miles back to their car at a straight line distance vs. about 10+ by the trail. The straight line took them down a drainage that ended at the top of the waterfall. Oooops The rain/snow hit part way down and high water prevented them from going back (also, they'd lost one pack in the river). Fortunately, they stopped there and waited for rescue.
The route down the river was pretty gnarly and got worse as they went. I asked them if they considered turning around. Nope -- because the GPS kept showing them getting closer to their car!
The other fun thing was they had tracking on so I downloaded their GPS track. You could see a bunch of points at the junction and could imagine them standing there discussing the route. I wanted to shout "NO! Don't go that way. Go the trail!"
The other thing was they were heroes in the press for "surviving." Once they were actually stuck, they did do a good job of surviving and eventually building a signal fire. But it was total testosterone poisoning and dumbness that got them stuck in the first place.
