>>2786301It does happen, but it's rare and easy to recover from.
The Appalachians are full of established and well-marked trails so getting lost isn't a huge concern. You're also never that far from civilization except up north in the 100 mile wilderness. People occasionally get turned around or miss a trail marker but if you keep your cool, it's easy to trace your steps back to somewhere familiar. It usually happens when somebody's leaving the trail to go take a shit or find a water source or suck bigfoot's dick.
If you're still really concerned about getting lost, there are plenty of devices by Garmin and other companies that use GPS to give you "breadcrumbs" to find your way back to a trail or camp by retracing your waypoints. They're a little pricey though and the more useful ones with an SOS beacon/messaging require a monthly sub. It's kinda hard to recommend something like that unless you're planning on a thru-hike or long section hike, but if you've got the cash to fork out, go for it. The Garmin Inreach is easily the most popular one for backcountry hiking. Make sure to read the fine print if you ever buy something like that because they absolutely rape people on activation/deactivation fees.