I wonder how long she yakked with the cops. A quick look at the satellite view with location turned on, and she should have been able to pick a direction to walk.
If the trail(s?) in question are poorly or confusingly marked and “go all over the place” with many changes in direction, etc., like some of the trails in the National Forest / “wilderness areas” near my place, seemingly correctly picking a direction to walk out can lead to even more trouble. Granted this involves some quite impassable areas, small gorges, and such, that are difficult to pick out in a satellite view. And in many of the areas near here, there is no cell signal anyway. I’m seriously thinking about getting a stand alone GPS device. (My wife, daughter and I have never been seriously lost, but, we have had a couple instances of trails becoming so confusing or impassable that we had to “go back the way we came” and got back to camp a couple hours later than planned.)
It is always a good idea to let someone know where you are going and when you plan to be back.