I was just trying to articulate similar thoughts, hikermor.

It's easy to point out the simple things this family could have done better: Our family would likely have been better equipped to hunker down and wait for rescue. We would probably have filed a detailed travel plan with trusted people. We would have checked the weather forecast and asked for local advice, at least from our hotel staff. We probably wouldn't have left the car on foot, except maybe get a cell signal. (It sounds like the father and son walked almost as far as she did looking for that. Frankly, how could they know that in advance?) We would probably have built a fire to melt the frozen bottles of water we brought with us and signal for rescue.

BUT....Even though y'all practically live in my head, I can easily envision our family making similar mistakes and misjudgements to what this family did. We're not idiots but we don't know what we don't know.

We would have flown in and rented a car, and relied on GPS and cell phones. We would have made ourselves ETS being stuck in the desert or a while in a densely populated area. We'd likely give little (if any) thought to being caught in a snow storm in the middle of nowhere unless someone told us.

That's just the perception of the Grand Canyon we Easterners have grown-up with. Until now. Now I know. Hindsight is 20/20. Thank goodness they all survived!