I just found this forum and wanted to make a few comments. I live in the Cascades in SW Washington state. I once hiked out from being lost in the woods on forest service roads, so there are a few things that came to mind.

Forest service roads are a nightmare. I walked about 20 miles to get out (during the fall fortunately.) It dawned on me to leave rocks at any branches of the road, so I could tell if I'd tried that branch or not. We had maps from the forest service (we were picking fir cones for sale) and THEIR maps were inaccurate. In that area, the vine maples were still bent down from the snowfall the previous year and acted almost like a fish trap. You could only walk out in one direction. I found another road pretty quickly and that's when I had to walk out of the maze of roads. I think he did a damn good job, all things considered. That's rugged country. It's tough to hike in even in the best of shape. The woods were likely wet and it would be hard to start a fire, unless you managed to keep something dry enough for firestarter.

But I do wonder about a few things. Don't folks carry shovels in the winter? Hats and warm clothes? Have we given up on using compasses to at least help us keep from walking in circles? That area is unlikely to be in range of any cell tower. (At home, I have to drive 5 miles to get within range of a tower.) I realize that some of these electronic devices can be helpful but they somehow strike me as being just gadgets. It seems like you might rely on them too heavily.

Lots of good stuff in this forum and I hope to learn more.