Today, I am married with two young <9 kids. I can't get out alone for 5 minutes let alone 5 days. OTOH, when I was single, I worked as a consultant and often had months between gigs, I dated but often didn't commit to anyone. I lived alone. I hiked alone alot. I wouldn't leave notes that said "stupid" things like "Call out the SAR if I'm not home by Monday" because I wanted the freedom to change my mind and stay awhile - or perhaps hike through to the other side and stay in a B&B before renting a car for the return. I didn't consider myself "out of touch" with the human race. I liked a party as much as the rest and was often in the midst of things but I also liked my freedom and solitude.

Having the means to reach out with a signal is a good thing but can't always be relied upon - even with satelite phones. Having the smarts that our ancestors had to survive in God's garden isn't much more than common sense and a load of luck. The same contrivances that allow us to confidently talk about what we will be doing in our 60's may make us overly cocky in our 20's. Our ancestors didn't get to 60 very often because the garden (though beautiful) was (and still is ) a dangerous place where STUFF happens to folks.

We talk alot about gear here because gear gives us an edge when STUFF happens. A walk in the garden when nothing happens is much more enjoyable in comfortable sandals, light cotton shorts, tank top and straw hat with nothing in any of the pockets to weigh you down. Unfortunately, STUFF happens with fair regularity.

I certainly think that our intrepid adventerur in this case made some decisions which might have been made better. I would start by testing the tight spaces before risking myself into them. If he had left a detailed flight plan with a SAR trigger time SAR might still have been looking a 1/4 mile off and not found him for the same amount of time. The outdoors is an amazingly large place. The found him quickly because he had already walked most of the way out.

I don't fault him at all for wanting some solitude on his adventure. Solitude carries additional risk but is not a defacto bad decision.