In the United States National Park System alone there are more than 84 million acres (340,000 square kilometers) of preserved woods, deserts, mountains and other wilderness, so it's no surprise that in the past 100 years there have been a number of cases of hikers going missing [source: National Park Service]. Many of those who vanished were young children and inexperienced hikers, but some were healthy and seasoned outdoorspeople. But is there more to these disappearances than just kids wandering off, or hikers becoming disoriented?

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