Answer: Lack of light to hike out. A simple flashlight or headlamp could shorten your stay in the woods by about 8 hours.

Or maybe lack of good judgment?

Sue

We had a guy get lost and have to spend the night at Squaw Peak Park in downtown Phoenix. He didn't bring water on his hike with his family. He went back to the car to get water. He got lost and they found him the next morning. If you walk for little more than an hour in any direction you will walk into someone's yard. <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Any direction - as opposed to in circles.

It always drove me nuts that the Blair Witch kids didn't follow the stream. However, they had supernatural spirits messing with their heads.

I don't believe that it was spirits messing with their heads...just the Director of the movie. <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

I was going to say STUPIDITY and not thinking about the "what if's"...... As a SAR team member, I saw that reason enough.

That is so true. When I lived in Northern California, I was involved with the Marin County Search and Rescue team, we had lost hikers on Mt. Tam all the time. When it starts getting dark and the fog rolls in, you can't see your hand in front of your face, even with a full moon out. People don't realize that when it is 80 degrees out in the afternoon, it will be 40 just after the sun goes down and the fog comes in. Mostly we had mountain bikers, but some lost hikers.

Ready

Susan's is still the most correct answer.

In the Searches I have been involved in these are some of the reasons. In no order.

Misjudgement of travel time.
Just plain Lost
Rapid Change in weather
Medical emergency
Dead
Not really hiking (Dear hunting.....not deer hunting)

Yeah - in fact, I'd say Dear Hunting (or as we sometimes say "Hunting the 2 legged Dear, not the 4") probably leads to more problems than anything else