In NH, where I live, there are many volunteer and state sponsored rescue teams working the White Mountains; by law all SAR costs are paid by those foolish enough to require such services. By making the victim responsible for their own decisions and the costs of the bad ones there is a disincentive for people to be too stupid. Still, there are an annoying large number of stupid decisions resulting in activating SAR. For example, last year there was a news person from boston who walked into the woods in the early fall with nothing but a 1/2 liter of water and was lucky enough to walk out 3 days later with a few scratches and some well needed weight loss. Not only was the local SAR activated but the State Cops and a few other agencies as well since this was somewhat of a well known media figure. Turns out that he made it on his own because when he realized that he was lost he kept moving - making it impossible for the SAR effort to find him - but he knew enough to follow water downstream and that is what eventually brought him out. Lucky for him he didn't get lost where there was no stream and didn't find a water fall that he couldn't climb around - both of which are possible in the Whites. I hike regularly in the Whites and often see folks blithly walking up the sunny slope in the morning with nothing or maybe a water bottle with thier kids or grand-parents or both, blissfully unaware that a sunny morning can turn into a thunder storm complete with flash floods in less than a half hour in the mountains. It is a wonder to me that the gene pool hasn't been more effectively thinned.