5 Amber Rose Smith

         Newaygo County, Michigan, is surrounded by a dense forest. In 2013, resident Dale Smith was at home with his two-year-old daughter, Amber Rose. She was playing, so her father decided to go into the next room. When he walked back to check on Amber Rose, she was gone. Apparently, she had decided to let herself outside and walk into the woods.

         Thankfully, she was found within 24 hours. It was the middle of October, so nighttime temperatures dipped down to 7 degrees Celsius (45 degrees Fahrenheit). When the Michigan conservation officer found her, she was 3 kilometers (2 mi) away from her house. She was only wearing a tank top and a diaper. Everyone was shocked that she had managed to survive the night. The officer cried tears of joy, saying that finding her was the highlight of his career.

         Before Amber was found, the local police had become suspicious of her father's claim that she simply disappeared without a trace. They found it hard to believe that the toddler really wandered into the woods. Even after finding her unharmed, they grilled her father with more questions as to why she was left alone.

4 Dennis Johnson

         Eight-year-old Dennis Johnson was visiting Yellowstone National Park with his family in 1966. The parents began setting up a picnic, and they told their two kids to go play. Dennis ran to his parents a few minutes later, telling them that his younger sister was lost in the woods.

         According to Dennis's father, his son had been taught some basic wilderness survival skills and had a good head on his shoulders. So he trusted the boy to continue searching for his sister and meet them back at the picnic area. They split up, and the parents recovered their missing daughter. But Dennis never returned.

         The National Park Service searched for him for weeks, putting thousands of hours into finding him. The parents were so desperate for answers about what happened to their son that they visited a psychic, who claimed to have a vision of their son drowning in a shallow ditch.

         The mystery of what actually happened to Dennis is still unknown. Remains have never been found, and theories that he was abducted continue to be a possibility.

3 Garrett Bardsley

         It was 8:00 AM on August 20, 2004, at the Uinta Mountains in Summit County, Utah. Garrett Bardsley and his father, Kevin, got up early on their father-son Boy Scout camping trip and went fishing on the edge of a nearby lake. Garrett got a little too close to the water, completely soaking his shoes and socks. He decided to walk back to the campsite to change.

         The Scout troop tents were a mere 140 meters (450 ft) away, so Garrett's father allowed his 12-year-old son to go back alone. There was no need to worry because they had walked that trail several times before and Garrett had also completed wilderness survival training. Kevin kept his eyes on Garrett as he walked around the lake and even shouted directions, reminding Garrett which path would lead him straight back to camp.

         Minutes later, Kevin wondered what was taking his son so long. He returned to the camp, and Garrett was nowhere to be seen.

         The only evidence that searchers found was the boy's Nike sock 0.8 kilometers (0.5 mi) away from the spot where he disappeared. The local police decided that there was not enough evidence pointing to a kidnapping. They believe that he got lost and died of exposure. In 2006, Kevin Bardsley was interviewed and gave vivid details about the day his son disappeared. He says that he will never give up hope of finding his son.

2 Malachi Bradley

         In 2015, 10-year-old Malachi Bradley was on a camping trip with his family. They were hiking in the woods of the Uinta Mountains of Utah. He wanted to find some mushrooms, so he wandered off on his own. By the time he realized that he had gone too far, he could no longer find his parents. Malachi knew to look for a road and flag down a car, but they were in such a remote location that he could not find one.

         He avoided dehydration by drinking water from a lake, but he could not find any food. When it was getting dark, Malachi found some rocks that felt warm from baking in the sun all day. Before he fell asleep, he removed his T-shirt so that he could wrap it around his legs for warmth. He zipped up his jacket and curled into the fetal position on the rocks. Though the nighttime temperature had dipped below freezing, he managed to stay warm enough to survive.

         In the morning, Malachi awoke to the sound of helicopters flying above him. He knew that they would not see him underneath trees, so he found the nearest clearing and stayed there until the rescue team found him.

1 Alfred Beilhartz

         In 1938, camping in the woods was far more rustic than it is today. After the Beilhartz family awoke with their 11 children in their tents at the Rocky Mountain National Park, they needed to walk to a nearby stream to wash themselves and drink water. When returning to camp, they noticed that one of the youngest children, five-year-old Alfred, was missing.

         The family ran to park rangers as soon as they could. A group called the Civilian Conservation Corps brought 100 members to look for the boy. Although shortwave radios had recently been invented, they were so massive that they had to be carried like a heavy backpack to communicate with other members of the search party.

         After 10 days of searching, the group dwindled to only 12 dedicated members and their bloodhounds. The FBI even got involved when they suspected that there might be a kidnapping.

         The only evidence they were able to gather was a statement from a married couple who had spotted a young boy matching Alfred's description. He was standing at the edge of a cliff, staring into the wilderness. He did not ask the couple for help to find his family, so they assumed that the family was nearby. Alfred simply walked back into the forest, and no one ever saw him again.