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It’s so freaking depressing to hear about the kid who avoided rescuers because he was afraid of strangers…….

I found a kid once. seriously, no joke I found a lost kid at around 11pm and he was crying, dirty, about 8 years old and after we finally figured out where he lived and where he started from - holyyyy cow he was a LONG WAY the total opposite direction. I mean legit surprised he walked that far, mostly uphill too. So, to the point, right, kids may 'tihnk differently'  than you we might expect.

My best friend went missing within Yosemite NP over the 4th of July weekend in 1988. Timothy John Barnes. Never a trace. Remains a missing person more than 35 years later.

25:35 When I was a child (12ish) I got separated from my parents in a suburban, paved "wilderness" trail we were biking. I managed to find my way back to where we had parked, solo, which was a fairly busy strip mall. My dad had driven off because he thought that I might be at a park along the trail that I had indeed been waiting at, which they had bypassed because of time, but I had left the park to find my own way back to the car after a long period of waiting.

I sat in the parking lot of that strip mall, in front of an open store, with my bike, for probably almost an hour, wondering what to do. It never occured to me to find an adult to help me. I even saw a police car in the parking lot that I later found out was looking for me, but I didn't dare to go near them because the police were scary. I was finally "found" when I recognized my grandpa's car, who was driving around trying to find me, and ran to him.

A whistle in your pocket. Always.

That's my conclusion after watching a bunch of lost-in-the-woods videos.

I cannot even imagine the guilt Garrett's father must deal with every day since Garrett went missing. At twelve years old, they're old enough to do a lot of stuff on their own and as a parent, you want to help foster their independence and confidence, and encourage their self-sufficiency. The camp was so close and there were other people they knew nearby. I can't imagine the pure, persistent heartache Garrett's dad feels thinking about watching him go down that trail and out of his sight, wishing with every molecule of his being that he'd just walked with him. It's poignant beyond description. 😩

From a recent reddit comment:

I commented this story on another post awhile back, but my sister and I were hiking up in that area a couple of years ago and we found a 12 yr old lost boy scout. He was about 4 miles away from his group,  had hiked 7 miles by the time we got him back, and had been by himself for hours. He knew the trailhead started with a C. I’m pretty familiar with the area so we hiked him to his group and dropped him off. They had NO CLUE he was missing. He never would have found the trail, and I even had to use my maps because a lot of it was washed out from snow still.

Someone told me later about Garrett going missing up there and never being found.

I look up the story and it was THE EXACT SAME CAMPSITE!!

Fucking eerie.

I have a son that was in scouting and it is a double edged sword.  The skills they learn can save their lives if lost in the wilderness but at this boys age it can also give them a false sense of confidence and cause them to make poor choices because they do not have enough caution.  My heart aches for his family.  Not knowing for so long has got to haunt them.

The moral of this story is... Don't take your eyes off your child when you're in the wilderness.

After seeing your hike, I could see Garrett going uphill. He goes uphill thinking "I remember walking down a big hill towards camp on the way in, so if I go uphill I should be able to see camp or the trail below me somewhere".  He reaches the top of the hill and realizes he can't see a trail or anything familiar, and picks a random direction from there.

My boys were in Scouts and the number one rule was the Buddy system.  I was immediately surprised by this video that the Buddy rule wasn’t stressed.

That path away from his dad was terribly confusing even to me. I could see a naive kid going off that trail and in a panic walking away from the area no matter how hard it was to leave the basin.

I got lost in Yellowstone national Park at probably about 9 years old. While walking to the bathroom from our campsite, I thought I knew a shortcut through a small section of woods and next thing I knew I looked up and had no idea where I was. Every direction I turned looked the exact same. Just forest in every direction and I didn’t even have the vaguest guess of which way to go to retrace my steps.

All I remember is picking up a large stick which in my mind was protection from grizzly bears and I continued to walk in what I thought was one direction until I came across a road. Took a right on the road and walked back into the park passing by the welcome to Yellowstone sign that we had driven by earlier that day.

It wasn’t long before I was picked up by a Park Ranger who was already searching for me and brought me back to my campsite. Start to finish I was probably only gone about an hour but I consider myself extremely fortunate to have come across that road. Had I been in a more remote location where there were no roads, or had I walked in a different direction where there was nothing but wilderness for dozens of miles, who knows how far I could’ve traveled.

I just remember that in my mind I was not trying to get back to the campsite because I knew I had no idea how to get back there. My plan was to just continue walking until I found something. In no time I could’ve been miles away from where I started and well outside of any search area. Heck I had already walked out of the park and then back into it again. Not to mention a child of that age is easy pray for many of the predators in those woods.

I’m really not surprised someone could disappear never to be found in such a remote location. If I had to guess, I bet he is far from where he started, maybe even farther than they have searched. It all depends on how warm he was dressed and how many nights he could have survived.

Also I don’t think you can discount him running into a mountain lion, bear, or less likely but still possible a human predator. I don’t think a lion would hesitate to attack a lone child that size and however remote the possibility, he could’ve become lost and crossed paths with the wrong person. Of course occams razor would indicate the most likely explanation is that he simply got lost and wandered out of reach or out of sight from the searchers. Based on my experience in Yellowstone, this is what I believe happened.

For his parents peace of mind, I hope they find his body and get closure one day but it’s going to require a lot of luck.

I helped search for Garrett after he became lost. I know the Uintas. I know this area (Cuberant Basin). I’ve been on outdoor outings (hikes, camping) with 12-year old scouts. I’m an experienced hiker and backpacker with over 50 years experience trekking into the wilderness.

Kids this age, for the most part, pay little attention to where they are, where they are going, and other details (landmarks, distance traveled, weather, shadows, etc) an experienced outdoorsman pays close attention to. Most kids this age are just playing “follow the leader”.

My theory is simple: Garrett became lost headed back to camp. He got turned around and just kept walking, hoping to either get back to his Dad, or back to camp. He carried no provisions, no compass, no signaling mirror, no whistle, no emergency blanket…nothing but his fishing rod. He may have panicked trying to find his way, leading him further away from camp.

With no food or water or warm clothing, he couldn’t have survived the very chilly night (18 degrees and snow) at over 10,000 feet. It’s a very sad story. I doubt foul play was involved. It would be very easy to become lost in this area, as you demonstrated in your video.

I sincerely hope Garrett’s remains are found some day.

You questioned why he might have continued carrying his fishing pole and my immediate thought was that if I was a young kid, and a Boy Scout at that, I might think “I can’t drop this, my dad will kill me.” To an adult, that’s silly. But I’ve been in dangerous situations where I thought “but my mom will be mad if I do X,” when I should have just gotten out of there.

Never send children into the woods and expect them to fend for themselves

Two years ago I came across a woman miles off trail. I had been coming to this area for about 5 years and always went 15 plus miles off trail so I could be remote and not bothered by people.

This woman started on a trail that was literally on the other side of the Hoosier national forest.  I was absolutely baffled to come across her. Gave her some food and water and led her back to the trail head then drove her to her car. On the trip she confessed this was her second time ever camping, that the first time was when she was 15, and decided for some reason it was smart to go solo with no GPS system or PLB.

Yall. The forest isn't evil. But its not forgiving. It doesn't care about you. Be smart. Be safe.

I think the algorithm is about to recognize your channel. You will explode. It will be great.

As a father of 3 boys, with twin 12 yr olds. After seeing the terrain, I can't fathom letting one of them walk back to camp. Especially after he initially went the wrong way.