The case of the San Francisco family who were lost on a back road in Oregon has been all over the news the past couple weeks. I'm not familiar with the specific circumstances involved there, but it might prove useful to look into what went wrong in order to prevent others from getting into similar situations. Unfortunately, in all the time that the media has devoted to this, they've spent little on giving advice on what should have been done. I'm certainly no expert, but on the other hand I'd like to think that I might have handled things a bit differently.

First, of course, they should have been aware of weather conditions and verified that the route they planned to take was open and their car could handle it. And, they should have constantly taken an inventory of their route and the road and weather conditions and always made sure that they could backtrack if necessary. Perhaps it's just me, but I usually try to make sure I know I can get out of something before going into it. And, they should have memorized or written down each turn so they could backtrack. When on a new trail I look behind myself occasionally to familiarize myself with what the route will look like when I'm returning, and I count features and remember characteristics of junctions and such.

Once in that situation, in addition to the survival tactics that they apparently used, they should have also tried to start an even bigger, smokier fire (without burning down the whole forest of course). They should also have constructed a large distress signal; three of anything placed together is generally considered such a signal. They could have done this by clearing snow, moving rocks in the snow, or starting three large fires. If it were possible to do so safely and without a great deal of exertion, they could have tried to get to a higher elevation in order to get a better idea of their surroundings and the exit routes. By doing that they might have been able to get cell phone reception. Even if the cellphone didn't work, they could construct another distress signal there.

And, of course, he should have stayed on the road. They were only at (according to one report) 3000', and another report said there was only 6" of snow in spots. It was also around 20 or 30 degrees at night, meaning it was not that cold during the day. And, he wouldn't have to lose that much elevation in order to get to a warmer area below the snow level. Starting at 7am and traveling at 3MPH, he could have covered at least 20 miles before nightfall. He might have traveled slower if he had to keep going over passes, or he might have been able to travel faster if it was mostly a gentle slope downhill. The sun could be used to verify he was headed in the correct direction and lacking that he could have fashioned an emergency compass.

I'm also a bit surprised that it took so long to find them, considering that the route they took was well known locally. They apparently took a side road a few miles, but even so with enough volunteers in appropriate vehicles I don't think it should have taken so long.