[URSpider94]

I don’t know what you’re talking about. They literally turned around and tried to leave the very first time someone told them to do so. The rest of the trip was them trying various ways to get out that were blocked by fire.

[grey-area]

Look at the map, they were told early on where to go and went in the opposite direction towards the fire, though the text skips over this without explanation as to why.

[ksdale]

I was under the impression that they went back to the car, and the road out appeared to go through the fire. The recommendation to go the other way would have meant hiking out, which, even though it was what they ended up doing, was not obviously the best choice early on?

[grey-area]

They could have driven the other way, the way they finally chose to drive, parked and started to walk to Red's Meadow and the other car. I agree they probably had reasons for the choice like not wanting to lose car 1 in the fire or get stuck up a mountain on foot without the car if the fire reached them. But they did get clear advice to go the other way early on and chose to ignore it.

[lucaswoj]

We got different advice from different rangers. One ranger on the phone told us to hike out. Another ranger on the ground tried driving out and told others to follow of she didn’t return.

The opportunity cost of trying to drive out was low. The fire’s eastward progress was slow so the hike out would still be there.

[grey-area]

Glad you made it out ok.

[jasonwatkinspdx]

You should look at a map again. You've got it literally backwards.

[grey-area]

Nope.

0. They park car 1 at Red's Meadow (top right, safe) and walk in to point 1 on the map. 1. They start a walk with friends from car 2 at this trailhead 2. They notice the fire and get advice to exit via Red's Meadow. Instead they take car 2 and drive towards the fire! 3. They realise this wasn't a good idea and turn around and go to Mammoth Trail and park car 2. 4. They stop for the night heading towards Red's Meadow 5. They walk to Red's Meadow to car 1 and exit safely

Not an easy situation and I'm sure they had reasons but they did drive away from safety towards the fire after being told not to.

[kepler1]

That wasn't it at all. They weren't blocked at multiple turns by fire closing in on them and cutting off escape routes.

They had a clear way out right back from where they came in. And they took it, but made it seem much more dramatic than it was.