With due respect, I am not sure the real problem was carrying insufficient gear. The hiker went out for a short (one hour!) snowshoeing trip, which does not generally require a lot of equipment. But he made a major error in trusting his GPS while neglecting the basic land navigation skills and gut feeling (again, happens to the best of us).

Bruce already made a good analysis of the situation and also proposed a viable solution IMHO. Regardless of your equipment (GPS, compass etc.) it's always a good idea to pay close attention to the terrain features and double check your direction wherever you go.

Had the hiker realized his error in time he should've been able to backtrack to his car. Given that there was heavy snow cover (apparently deep enough to require snowshoes) it should've been possible to follow the tracks all the way back. After all, the distances involved were very short, just a couple of miles.

Granted, extra gear, warm clothing and a small stove would've been nice as additional insurance, but with sound land navigation skills the situation would've been avoided altogether.