An unplanned night out coupled with bad weather turns deadly for a father and his two young sons on a hike.

Anniversary gift turns into fatal hike for father, two sons from Millstadt

So easily prevented, multiple times and in multiple ways. Over confidence cost the family dearly.

How sad,beautiful family.Prayers sent.

This is a really unfortunate example of the insidious nature of hypothermia. Note that the father had a chance at a ride to safety and thought he would be fine without it....

Very sad. The article said he had a flashlight and a cell phone but the batteries depleted on both. This is why my PLB goes with me on EVERY hike, no matter how "easy" or "short".

Wow what a horrible story. Thank you for posting it, great wakeup call.

It brings to mind Peter Kummerfeldt's advice:

"Never say “I am just……” Saying “I am just going to….” (You fill in the blank) is a denial of the possibility that anything will go wrong and a denial of the need to carry an emergency kit or protective clothing with you. After all “what could possibility go wrong?” A lot can go wrong, it can go wrong quickly and you can die!"

It is hard to understand an "experienced" hiker going on an all day hike with virtually nothing in the way of gear to deal with the normal things that happen when you are out hiking especially this time of the year.

Just some emergency ponchos might have kept them dry enough to survive.

I have often said I am only really afraid of three things out in the woods, - getting wet, getting lost, and the dark.

I carry a poncho of some sort and a space blanket in case it rains on me, multiple compasses and a map to help me get unlost, and at least two flashlights.

Geez, that is so sad. What a waste. My condolences to the family.

I know how a trail can draw you forward. A five-minute reconnoiter tempts you to leave your gear in the car or cabin, and then it turns into a multi-hour walk. And if the weather turns ...

Wow. I guess they didn't seek shelter or build a fire until it was already too late. But building a fire could have been quite tough in the downpour that was described. And if they didn't have anything significant to protect them from the rain and cold...

I try to go prepared, but I could see myself in a similar situation potentially. 60 degrees in the morning - you usually expect it to warm up as the day goes on. I always check the weather forecast. I always carry additional gear for warmth, how much of that I carry depends on the season, the forecast, etc. But going from 60 degrees to 20 (in pouring rain) is quite a change. But I guess it IS winter now, and these types of temperature swings aren't really all that rare.

I will be more vigilent in making sure I am prepared on future hikes. Usually you read stories of tragedy like this and you can point out all the obvious, blatant mistakes that were made. But in this case I can see mistakes were made, but I don't judge them as over-the-top felony-level stupidity. They could happen to many of us here, despite how well prepared we proclaim to be. I guess the biggest mistake was not to check on the weather forecast (but we don't know that he didn't do that - it wasn't mentioned).

I will now make sure to remind my kids (grown up now) they always be carrying at least a HeatSheets for every hike, even if it's a warm sunny day and it's only planned to be a two hour stroll. Getting wet can just kill you.

"Experienced" is subjective. Maybe he took lots of walks in the woods during the day in warm weather. Only takes a couple mistakes for things to go south, and people get complacent when things usually go as planned.