"Something else that I find very disturbing, is the fact that whomever she "signed out" with "lost" her information. That could have meant the difference of life or death. Agencies that require you to sign out for an area of wilderness should be responsible enough to oversee that sign out process to ensure people return. Otherwise it is a false sense of security and has less value than no sign out at all.

I have myself, experienced government agencies requiring a sign out and when an emergency crops up, they have no plan or experience to provide any assistance. What is the point of the sign out?"

As a retired gov't worker (NPS) and an outdoors person who has had to sign out on occasion, I have to agree with you, Widget. Losing that little slip of paper could have meant the difference between life or death. I hope someone is looking into this.

Effectiveness of a permit system will vary from place to place, but I have seen situations where the system did indeed work well - that doesn't mean that they all do or that a permit system is a panacea.