That's not the reality of it. You can easily get lost even day hiking maintained trails. When you're cutting through brush, have no familiar landmarks things are different. Being lost is a combination of not knowing your location relative to camp and also being disoriented as to which direction you're supposed to go, where you've come from.

You're constantly making decisions to travel to avoid trees, difficult elevation, brush which entails changes of direction. The inaccuracies in those decisions can compound. The idea that you can just look at the sun or have nothing but a compass and travel safely and confidently in unknown territory is a myth. It's rarely ever as simple as moving in a straight line.