Well, I guess that just proves what we emphasize on this board ... all the great gadgets & supplies won't help if you don't have the "mental equipment" -- experience, training, common sense, whatever you want to call it -- to use your tools effectively. As GoatRider says below, telling your child as an absolute rule "don't ever talk to strangers" can really backfire if the kid doesn't have the judgment to adjust his/her behavior when the circumstances change. (And if Master Hawkins doesn't yet have the necessary judgment, then his parents should have exercised their own good sense and not permitted him to go camping without them until he demonstrates it.)

But like Bee, I definitely had to grin when I heard that the kid actually got off the trail when the SAR folks came close to him!