A mass of vines trapped two neighboring hiking enthusiasts. Try to crawl through, only to find no way forward; crawl back, but it's not the way they came; try again, and suddenly the path ahead turns into a cliff... Over five hours later, the two were completely lost.
Two neighboring friends hiked together to enjoy the scenery
Master Jiang loves hiking. Not long ago, he moved into a residential community in Zhongliangshan Town, Shapingba. One day while taking a walk, he ran into his neighbor, Master Luo. The two got to talking about hiking and hit it off immediately, deciding on the spot to find an opportunity to hike together.
Before long, Master Jiang invited Master Luo to go hiking, mentioning that he had recently been to a place where the mountain was steep but the scenery was beautiful—and it was not far from their community, making it very convenient. A little after 9 a.m. the day before yesterday, the two met at the agreed location. Since they didn’t expect the hike to be long, they only brought two bread rolls and two bottles of mineral water for provisions.
Along the way, the two neighbors, who shared a common passion, chatted cheerfully. In about an hour, they reached the mountaintop. After taking in the misty scenery, the two happily began their descent, looking forward to getting home.
A vine they hadn’t seen on the way up blocked their path
Around 2 p.m., the two were walking down a mountain trail. As they walked, the one in front, Master Jiang, began to sense something was wrong: this path was different from the one they took up, and there were vines on the trail that hadn't been there before.
“Maybe we can get through if we crawl,” the two decided. Looking at the waist-high vines, they bent down and crawled through. Master Jiang went first, followed by Master Luo. The vines were thick—some as thick as a pinky finger at their narrowest—with dense gaps that only allowed one person to crouch and squeeze through at a time.
“It only took a few minutes to get through,” Master Jiang recalled. As soon as he stood up straight, he felt the scenery looked unfamiliar. Though puzzled, he figured since they were heading downhill anyway, as long as they kept moving toward the foot of the mountain, they’d eventually find a way out.
But after walking a few hundred meters, the path ahead suddenly ended at a steep slope with dense woods below. To proceed, they would have had to jump over the cliff-like slope. Unwilling to take the risk, they decided to head back.
These vines trapped them for over five hours
Seeing that the path ahead was wrong, the two bent down again to crawl back through the vines, hoping to return to their original route. But when they made it through the vines, they realized the path ahead was not the way they had come.
“By then, we were already sweating profusely,” said the two middle-aged men in their 50s, who were starting to feel disoriented. After crawling back and forth through the vines twice, the scenery each time was different. Master Jiang carefully observed the area from a higher vantage point: “The vine-covered area spans about two acres, but the vines are in a particularly tricky spot, flanked by dense trees and bushes.”
“We probably have to get through this thicket to find our way back,” said Master Jiang. The two ate some bread and drank some water. Since they had only packed enough for a short trip, their food was already gone. After resting briefly, they started crawling into the vines again. After crawling back and forth four or five more times, over two hours had passed. The path ahead was either a cliff, dense forest, or impenetrable underbrush. Though still determined, panic and anxiety were draining their energy.
The mountain fog grew thicker, and the light dimmed. They had already spent over five hours stuck there.
They only called for help after one of them rolled down the hillside
Just as they were making their seventh attempt to crawl through the vines to find a way down, Master Jiang heard a loud cry behind him. Turning around, he saw that Master Luo was gone—only some swaying grass nearby. Realizing something was wrong, he quickly grabbed a small tree by the path and slowly slid down about 20 to 30 meters before finally spotting Master Luo lying on the ground, with blood on his face and a cut near his eye.
“I twisted my ankle, and something hard scratched my eye. It hurts terribly whenever I move,” Master Luo said. Seeing this, Master Jiang immediately called 119 for help.
At 7:50 p.m., after receiving the emergency call, the 119 Command Center dispatched firefighters from the Geleshan Squadron of the Shapingba Fire Brigade to the scene. Unable to pinpoint their exact location, the firefighters relied on the pair’s descriptions and, led by local villagers and police, searched the mountain ridges one by one with flashlights. An hour and a half later, the firefighters finally found Master Jiang and Master Luo. They used ropes to rescue the two from the trapped area and brought them down the mountain.
After 11 p.m., the two were brought down the mountain. Upon examination, Master Luo only had minor abrasions and muscle strains, with no serious injuries. He needed rest and was very lucky.
Leave clear markers to avoid retracing your steps
Firefighters analyzed that the cause of their getting lost was the mountain fog and the pair’s lack of wilderness survival knowledge. Because of the overcast weather during that period, fog tends to form in the mountains in the afternoon. The dense, low-hanging vines made it easy for the two to lose their bearings while crouching and crawling through.
The firefighters noted that they had observed at the scene that the area before and after the vines was dense forest. Therefore, if one took a wrong turn while crawling through, they could end up in a different part of the woods that looked similar. Once trapped, the two chose to crawl back and ended up making the same mistake. This cycle repeated, leaving them unable to find the way out.
There is actually a simple solution: leave clear markers along the way to avoid taking wrong turns or backtracking. “Now in winter, mountain fog forms earlier and is denser. So it’s advised that hikers avoid unfamiliar mountains and especially avoid taking trails. The denser the woods, the heavier the moisture and fog. Always stick to main paths. If you get lost, call for help promptly. Don’t panic and make random calls—save your phone battery to ensure rescuers can reach you,” they advised.