I suspect that that going off-trail to answer the call of nature is a classic way to get turned around. It's so disarmingly simple and routine that you'd never expect to get into trouble. A lot of backpackers even leave their main packs beside the trail because, you know, they'll be right back.

Sadly, for this lady, it seems to me that a cascade of small and very human errors led to an untimely end. This is not intended to show any disrespect. Someone who walked a thousand miles of trails is surely a kindred spirit. If nothing else, she at least faced her situation, in the end, with more grace than many.

As a solo backpacker, I was always mindful of the need to be able to hunker down or self-rescue. Since I'm a middling navigator at best, I made a concerted effort to have a mental map of hard boundaries (trail, road, river) and their general direction; and to try to check the compass as a rough indication of my general direction of travel. I have been turned around many times, which is especially easy in the "endless detour" that is dense bush mixed with wetlands, but if I had a rough compass bearing I knew that I was never hopelessly lost.

This is important: people who feel totally lost can tend to panic, clouding their thinking and increasing the danger of their situation. I suspect the attempt to find cell phone reception is an indication that she was overwhelmed. This seems to have led her farther from safety. It's doubly unfortunate, then, that her SPOT device was accidentally left behind.

The SAR people were undoubtedly giving it their all, but in very dense brush you can lose a VW Beetle and not find it unless you practically trip over it. As others have noted, better signalling capabilities may have tipped the balance in her favour. There seem to be indications that she attempted fire (fire scars on trees, and candles and a lighter were found with her) but was not successful. This may have been a lack of skills, or she may have lacked adequate tools (saw or strong blade) to utilize the materials around her. A smoky fire would have helped SAR find her -- even the smell, if not visible smoke, provides a starting point.

I know that aborting a trip is the hardest thing to do, but (with every respect) that's what should have happened here. I feel badly for her family, who must have felt so helpless. This at least provides closure.