This is a report (by correspondent Huang Xin) about how a hiker, by “taking the road less traveled,” ventured alone into an undeveloped scenic area and ended up lost and trapped. After nine hours of rescue efforts, the hiker was finally safely freed at 2:35 a.m. on June 3.
On the morning of June 2, a man in his 30s came to visit the Jingxi Shiba Tan Scenic Area in Mentougou District with several friends. Around noon, the man suddenly had the idea of “taking the road less traveled.” He left his companions behind, taking only a bottle of drinking water and a camera, with nothing in his otherwise empty backpack, and entered the undeveloped area on his own. Before setting off, he agreed with his friends, “I’ll be back down the mountain before sunset.”
After climbing over a hill, the man suddenly realized he had lost his sense of direction. In the vast sea of trees, there were no visible landmarks, and he couldn’t find the way down. Faced with this situation, the man braced himself and tried to retrace his steps from memory. By 5 p.m. that day, after wandering in the woods for hours, he still hadn’t found a way back. “There’s a cliff right beneath my feet, and there’s no path ahead. If I turn back, I don’t know which way to go.” As it grew darker, he was only wearing a short-sleeved T-shirt, and the only bottle of water he had was completely empty. With no other choice, the man called the police.
Upon receiving the report, the Yongding Fire Brigade of Mentougou District quickly organized 11 firefighters to head to the foot of the mountain. Through a phone call, the man trapped near the cliff could only describe his approximate location. In order to locate the lost hiker as quickly as possible, the firefighters decided to find a local villager to serve as a guide.
After preparing the necessary rescue equipment, water, and food, the firefighters began their ascent to rescue the man. Due to the dense forest, the rescuers had to struggle through the thick underbrush. Their clothes were soaked with sweat as they walked and called out, “Is anyone there? Is anyone there?”
At 8:35 p.m., the rescuers finally heard the cries for help from the trapped man. Based on the sound, the firefighters estimated the man’s approximate location. However, at this point, the rescuers and the trapped man were separated by a deep canyon, which greatly increased the difficulty of the search and rescue.
With time running out, the firefighters immediately split into two teams. One team crossed the canyon to carry out the rescue of the trapped man, while the other team stayed put to monitor the man’s location and guide the search direction. Learning that the trapped man had a camera, the rescuers asked him, through shouts, to turn on the camera’s flashlight to signal his position. Guided by the flickering light of the flashlight, at 11:30 p.m. that night, the firefighters finally located the trapped man. By then, the man was utterly exhausted. When he saw the firefighters, he visibly relaxed. He took the bottled water offered by the rescuers and gulped down several big mouthfuls. Too tired and thirsty to even speak, he had no energy left for words.
Considering that the rescued man was physically exhausted, taking the original route back would have significantly delayed the rescue process. The firefighters gave the lost man a jacket and decided to take a route through the canyon between the two mountains. They then supported the man step by step as they made their way out of the forest. Along the way, the firefighters cleared the path ahead — they crossed ravines, stepped through thorny bushes, and pushed through tangled vines. After more than three hours of arduous trekking, at 2:35 a.m. on June 3, the lost man was finally safely rescued.