I've had a few modest forays into the PNW landscape, and the density of vegetation makes it terribly easy to get turned around and/or disappear forever. Even in fairly well populated territory (don't ask).

According to the article, they're not the first (by far) to get into trouble in this area.

Add a dense overhead canopy, and you have a real problem. Even if you could make fire, how much smoke would it take to make yourself seen?

I can only imagine the sinking feeling (and increasing urgency) of the searchers when they saw the trail of debris, which were all useful items. This to my mind would signal decreasing capacity and condition of the lost party.

BTW, aren't there some more current updates? The link I posted is an AP story from more than 24 hrs. ago.