W_D, I took my daughter out at that age too, but I don't think we're looking at how you and I approached this kind of thing.

These people took off on a very well known trail and had basically nothing with them from what I read. I never did that.

Maybe there are alternate routes, but from what I've read and heard and the photos I've seen, the Rubicon is no Sunday afternoon cruise. It's a serious off road vehicle trail, and a stock Jeep is not built for that trail. From what I understand, most off roaders do that trail in groups and bring lots of spare parts for their vehicles, and lots of equipment to extract stuck vehicles, and they drive mostly highly modified vehicles that are built for trails like the Rubicon, and they break them and fix them on the trail because it is an extremely tough trail.

If I'm wrong, and there is a route that stock Jeeps can take for a Sunday drive on the Rubicon, I'd still say they should have had gear to spend a night or two in case something happened. Shoot, I took enough gear to feed and diaper and bed down my daughter for a couple days just on a trip to the corner store.

Plus, the fact that they got lost is, for me, another loud "tell" that they had no clue about what they were getting into and probably have no clue even now how lucky they are after getting out of that mess.

If they'd been able to spend a night in a shelter they brought and keep warm and fed and hydrated on their way out, I'd buy them beer and banana pudding and help them go get and fix their car. I'm not unsympathetic for those who make a earnest attempt to do something like this, nor am I for those that don't. But I'm not blind either and they should've saw the potential for this kind of thing to happen.

So if I were close to them I'd give them hell instead for getting that kid into that mess, and then some more for getting themselves into it.

I'd still go get and fix their car too. I've been doing that since before I had a license to drive.

Those are the coolest photos! I'm guessing that's your 1st husband? Talk about rugged good looks!!! I wanted to be like you two so bad when I was growing up. I actually had dreams of bushwhacking in the mountains out west. My first trip to Sequoia NF stunned me with how real those dreams were, and after that it all looked and felt familiar as home every time I went there. But not coming back down into the valley. The trip back to LA was agony every time.