Wilderness Missing Persons Cases Adequately (if imperfectly) Explained

There's a whole genre of books and podcasts centering around people going missing in wilderness areas, popularized by the "Missing 411" series of books and late-night paranormal radio interviews.  It's mildly (very mildly) worrying stuff for a person like me, who often goes hiking, backpacking, or mountain biking alone.  Deep down you know there's really nothing out of the ordinary going on, and yet late at night while listening to ghostly AM talk shows alone in a tent miles from anywhere and yet very near something called the "Bigfoot Trail" (real name, really), the mind does wander.  (graphic from Vecteezy)

I've never wanted to take the time for a thorough dive into what's going on with this, and fortunately now you and I don't have to, because Joe Scott does it for us over at his vlog: The Missing 411 Mystery Has a Solution.  You Won't Like It.  (just under 30 minutes, but you can skip parts)  TLDW:  There are a variety of reasons why people disappear in the wilderness.  Sometimes people go missing because they want to, or sometimes because other people want them to.  There are plenty of holes and rivers to fall into, never to be seen again.  Finally, when you're in nature, you just may involuntarily re-join the food chain.  All totaled, it's enough to explain nearly all of the documented cases.  Macabre, yes, but woo-woo, no.  And highly, highly unlikely to happen to you personally.  Knock on wood.