You make an excellent point. Sometimes following a stream will get you into more trouble than you can get out of. My grandparents had some land that had a large swamp on the backside of it and I used to hang out there quite a bit. It's not really an easy place to maneuver in at all (but for snakes it's hard to beat!). As you stated, all the streams in the area eventually wound their way into the swamp, so anyone following them trying to find civilization would actually find themselves in muck chest deep in some places. That's a great thing to keep in mind for people thinking about following a stream.

Another thing to think about is predators at the stream drinking or hunting. What are the odds that someone following a stream will wander up on a bear or mountain lion? I'm sure it's not unheard of but coming from an area where both are really rare (most people don't even think they exist here although they have been seen by conservation officers that I have talk to) I have to say I don't really know what the incidence of occurance would be. I wouldn't want to round the bend and inadvertently seperate a mother bear from her cubs. I don't know what the likelihood of that is but I certainly wouldn't want to be the one guy in history to do it.