Many, for example, brave the steep trails of the Grand Valley area, Maynes told me, because that remote northeastern corner of the park is thought to be a mountain paradise. I took her word for it, but many people with the time and energy insist on seeing for themselves. One young man went off and got lost, and it turned out his only previous backcountry experience was a short hike. That makes it very difficult. Raging surf on the Pacific coast of Olympic National Park can uproot trees.
Searchers start at the trail head parking lots, looking for a vehicle belonging to the missing one.
But even if they find the car, more than one trail typically begins from the lot and most ramble for miles and branch off confusingly. Fortunately, during her nine years working at the park, Maynes recalls only happy endings to such incidents. After a couple of nights utterly lost, the man in her example wandered into a backcountry ranger station. Such incidents put the parks back in perspective. The part seen from the pavement is a tiny fraction of the immense, wild, fascinating and frequently dangerous whole.