I've got three words for these situations: GPS, GPS, GPS

I don't know why in this here modern day, people still manage to get lost, and more importantly, manage to not find their way back:

Search and rescue teams were scouring the Cascades near Snoqualmie Pass for a woman who went missing Saturday. Dozens of workers and volunteers hiked on and off-trail and skied the backcountry trying to find the 31-year-old.

The woman, whose name hadn't been released by the King County Sheriff, went missing while she was snowshoeing with two friends on the Denny Creek Trail near Hemlock Pass, according to KING-5 TV.

The woman was equipped only for a day hike and not prepared to spend a snowy night on the mountain, rescue officials said Sunday.

In one case, an IPod was what helped find one man. Tip: GPS is a much more effective and cheaper navigation device.

An iPod glowing in the middle of the night from thick underbrush led rescuers to a mushroom picker lost in the woods.

The search leader said Pini Nou, 25, was on his first outing Thursday and got separated from his mother, an experienced mushroom hunter.

At nightfall, she called Benton County authorities for help.

Update: The woman lost in the Cascades was found safe. Rescuers worked in condions that were freezing, wet and were themselves almost to the point of Hypothermia.

Farley said she expects Wysocki will "probably become a poster child for carrying emergency gear," and will make sure to tell others to be prepared when they go hiking.

One can only hope that this "emergency gear" will include, oh, I don't know, a GPS?

Aside: Day hikers going into wooded areas: Please consider an inexpensive GPS. The worst that will happen is it won't reliably pick up a signal under wet tree-cover. However, you might get spotty coverage which would be more than enough to pinpoint your own location in relation to your base camp (car, whatever). GPS, better to have one and not need it, than to need one and not have it.