OK - just to emphasize the point everyone has been making, here is my (stupid) true story (really stupid):
Years ago (before cell phones) when I had just moved to NC, I went on a vacation with a friend to the NC coast. We went during off-season (after Labor Day) when hotel rates really drop off. But 90% of the sites are closed and/or understaffed as well. But we were adventurous!
One day we decided to visit Jockey's Ridge State Park near Nags Head (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jockey%...dge_State_Park), which has the highest sand dunes in NC. And there is a ridge in the center of the dunes - which you have to walk over to get to Roanoke Sound, where an earlier storm had washed up tons of jellyfish that we wanted to see. So we parked off the coastal road and started walking - it's about 1-2 miles from the coast to the sound, OVER the ridge - which is up to 100' high in places. We didn't know a damn thing about walking over dunes, and learned to do an amateurish side-step shuffle eventually. There are no marked trails, no ranger stations, no emergency phones. It's ALL sand! But we preserved and made it to the sound - and saw the jellyfish. We figured we could just follow our footprints to get back to the car - I was wearing a brand new pair of Nikes with a very distinctive clear tread.
So we wandered up & down the inlet until we got thirsty. Yes - we had brought no water having vastly underestimated the distances - esp. if you factor in the up & down the dune walking. So we find my tracks and start off briskly. It struck us that the tracks were going off at an angle more than we remembered, but we just thought slipping up & down the dunes had pulled us off a straight line. So we walked ... and walked ... and walked ... and walked .... with no water. Once you get out of sight of the sound, there are no landmarks. We kept reassuring one another that it was only a mile or so - we just had to keep walking and eventually we'd come to the road.
You guessed it! We picked the wrong footprints to follow. What were the odds of 2 tourists wearing the same shoe style? We were lost big time, dehydrated, and getting scared. None of the dunes we were on were high enough to see the inlet or the road. And we had no clue as to directions. Remember - no phones, no rangers.
Close to panic, I decide to sit down and wait for the sun to set to get some idea as to where west was (the inlet side) - and we would then walk opposite to get to the road. It worked - after I don't know how long we were at the road. Safe now you say?
We had no idea where the car was! Neither of us had ever been here before, so we didn't recognize any landmarks on the road. All the restaurants, etc. are closed - so no phones, no directions. We thought about splitting up and walking up & down the road to find the car -- but only had 1 set of car keys. And it's getting dark .... you guessed it - no street lights. And no traffic - it's off-season.
Now we're really scared - and start walking in one direction - but nothing looks remotely familiar. So we decide to turn around and retrace our steps the other way .... remember, no water, no food, no jackets .... when I suddenly start jumping up & down! I had spotted a road-side restaurant with a purple plastic giant octopus on its roof - and I knew we had passed it before we parked the car. So we trudged on & on and finally found the car.
Yes, we were young, stupid, and thought it was a huge adventure. But it also shows how things can go terribly wrong very quickly, esp. if you have taken no precautions!
I can't believe we were that stupid! And lived to remember it!