Interesting post Matthew. Nice to know that the old country is 'up there' when it comes to backcountry comms.! I have long had an interest in survival comms. and have yet to hear of any integrated, official, public national parks net outside of NZs. [ As a Kiwi, I have tramped many of our national parks, but long before the HF net was available!]
Here in Australia, VHF marine radio is probably the 'last vestige' of an officially backed public accessible emergency radio network, and that is what I use for seakayaking. But this has definite shortcomings of terrain, and outright transmission range, as you know.
The trend in my sport is towards satellite phones, rentable, or bought for around $2000, and big calls costs, both for the transmitting and receiving parties. But people are paying that, rather than turn to radio, which is a pity. That sort of money should be able to buy you a nice portable HF.
And of course, emergency technology is encouraging the use of EPIRBs, with 406s becoming cheaper and smaller.
Schwert, I think the world of ham radio is wonderful, but I am put off by the 'technical' side of the pastime. And I think many younger folk are the same [ judging by the letters in the Ham radio mags ]. Why bother when you have email forums and cellphones/ sat phones?
I have always believed there are many 'fringe' radio folk out there,like myself, who don't go to the trouble of a ham licence because they are not really interested in all the techo talk of hams, but still have a legitimate use for MF/HF.
But the trouble is, short of going to ham gear, and using ham frequencies, there is nothing much PORTABLE on the market for other civilian MF/HF users. I have the relevant marine licence to operate a HF transmitter on marine frequencies, but that doesn't help when you're in a sea kayak!
If anyone knows of a handheld MF/HF marine transceiver for sale, please let me know!
Something like the Tokyo HyPower ham portable would be nice.

My 0.02c worth,
Regards,
Peter Rattenbury, Wollongong, NSW