I am a Search and Rescue Officer for the US Forest Service, I have seen some weird things

I wasn't sure where else to post this, so here it is. I am a search and rescue (SAR) officer in the United States. This is my first year, and I'm still in training, but I have been on about 30 calls so far. Most of them are either for lost people, or finding dead bodies. We do technical rescue as well, like if someone is hurt in an area that EMS/ambulance cannot get to easily, we will go out on a hoist and bring them back. It's kind of like a helicopter, but you ride on the rope instead of inside the chopper. Anyways, I've had a few experiences that I feel are noteworthy, so I'll share them with you guys. <br><br>Some people do really dumb shit, and it gets them killed. I found a guy at the bottom of a cliff once. He was from out of town, and he decided to go hiking. He went up onto a small cliff (maybe 20ft or so) to take some pictures. He took his pictures, but then he couldn't figure out how to get back down. He called 911, and we came out looking for him. When we showed up, he was about 5min away from the parking lot. He told us that he couldn't get over the cliff, and he had to be lifted out by the helicopter. So we leave and think that's it. The next day, he goes hiking again, at the same spot. He goes onto the same cliff, and gets stuck again. We get another call from him, and tell him that we're not going to waste our time and money to come out and get him again. He tells us that he's actually stuck this time, because the cliff is much higher. We thought he was full of shit, but we had to come out and make sure he wasn't just being lazy. We ended up finding him about 2 miles away from where he got stuck the first time, he somehow thought he was going the right way. Anyways, he fell down a cliff, and smashed his face into a boulder. He was dead. There was no one around to call 911, and he hadn't been reported missing yet, and we found his body 2 days after he died. I think the weird part about this is that he had taken a selfie right before he fell, and when we looked at it, you can see the ground that he fell onto. The rock he smashed his face into is even in the picture. It's a very strange feeling looking at a photo like that.<br><br>These make up the majority of our calls, but sometimes we find people dead for weird reasons. We found a guy that had a tree fall on him. Apparently he was walking down a Forest Service road (like a paved road through the woods), and somehow he didn't notice a tree falling down towards him. I think it was a freak accident. There was no wind that day, and it was a relatively small tree. Anyways, he died. <br><br>I went out on another call, and this one really pissed me off. There was a guy, with 2 kids (one was 8 the other was 2 I think). So we get a report of a man and 2 kids missing, and the mom is extremely worried. Apparently they were just going out for a little walk in the woods. So we come out looking, and we can't find them for about 6 hours. Eventually we find them in some woman's house. She had let them in, because they were "hungry and lost". She didn't see fit to call 911, even though the woman had a radio and was listening to our search efforts. I have no idea why they didn't try to find their way back, but they decided to stay in her house for a couple of days. We told her that she could be charged with kidnapping, but she just said that she didn't care, and she thought they were scared. It was honestly bullshit. I don't even care if you hate the cops, you can give someone something to eat, then call 911, and make sure they are ok. She didn't even care enough to make sure they were safe, because she didn't give a fuck about them. Anyways, that's over with, and if I ever find her house again, I might have to accidentally mark it on the map so we know where it is next time.<br><br>Now for the weird ones. There is a place that basically every SAR team in the country knows about. It is a place in each state where we have an extremely high number of missing persons. For example, in Arizona, the Superstition Mountains have hundreds, maybe even thousands of missing persons. Most of them are never found. I won't name where this place is exactly, but in my state, people just don't come back from certain areas sometimes. I've seen people who just walk away from camp, and never come back. They never turn up again. I've seen people who walk away from a restaurant, and never come back. I've seen people who go out with friends to a bar, and then never come back. Their friends don't find out until the next day, when they call them wondering what the hell happened. I think the weirdest part of all these missing persons is that they all have one thing in common. Almost every single one of them, doesn't have any family or friends looking for them. It's always a spouse that calls it in, but they don't seem very concerned. We've had people call in their spouse missing, and then go to work the next day. It's honestly really creepy, and I don't know if someone is killing all these people, or if they just decide to walk away from their lives and never come back. I know that there have been cases of people walking away from their lives, but it seems like way too many people from this area do that. Anyways, I just thought you guys would find that interesting. <br><br>Basically, be careful out there, because the woods can be a weird place.<br><br>Edit: I thought I would clarify a couple things that you guys have asked about. The guy who got stuck, we didn't get a call from his wife or anything that he was missing. Apparently he told her that he was going to come out for 2 days. Dude had no idea where he was going, or what he was doing. Anyways, when we showed up the first time, we told him that we don't spend tax-payer money to rescue people who aren't actually in danger, and he said that he was just trying to get out for some exercise. He had no injuries, and he was only 5 minutes away from the parking lot. So we just told him that we weren't going to waste our time on him, and that he could wait for sunset and wait for us the next day if he was still "stuck".<br><br>As for the guy who had the tree fall on him, it was just a small tree. I think it was less than 6 inches at the base. Anyways, the tree apparently fell at the base, and slid down a small embankment towards him. It was on a slope, and it rolled down the hill, which is how it managed to hit him so hard. I think he died from asphyxiation, because the tree somehow got hung up in a bush, and was pressing down on his head. I didn't see the body, but from what I heard it was a pretty dumb way to go.<br><br>Also, just to clarify. I'm not saying the Superstition Mountains are the place in every state. Every state has its own place. I think I explained that poorly. Anyways, I think that's it for now, thanks for feedback guys.