Dad Abandons Seven-Year-Old Son 8,200 Feet up Mount Fuji, Keeps Hiking

Hikes are notoriously difficult things. I know I’d much rather be sitting at home curled up reading a good book, but some people just love long walks and being surrounded by nature.

But there’s one important caveat to a hike I think most people are aware of. If you’re doing a hike with other people, you leave no one behind.

But one Japanese father didn’t get that memo. Per People, he made the pretty crazy decision to leave his son around 8,200 feet along the Fujinomiya trail of Mount Fuji, Japan. He was found by a worker on the mountain trail at around 7:40 am local time.

According to local outlets, the 7-year-old boy had been hiking alongside his 12-year-old brother and his father. He had been complaining about fatigue and had been instructed to  “wait here” as they continued up the mountain.

That doesn’t sound all that bad… right? Well, rain and fog were on the horizon when the little boy was found. And, once the police managed to get into contact with his dad, it turned out he really had kept going.

He ended up being found at the eighth station. Japan Today estimates that the boy was left alone for around three hours. Just imagine that!

The Dad Released a Statement About Leaving His Son on the Hike

The dad ended up commenting on the situation, stating, “I made a rash decision, and I deeply regret it.”

The details about the dad remain sparse. Shizuoka Prefectural Police chose not to name the man. It is unclear how the two ended up reconciling, although they presumably were reunited by police.

The Shizuoka Prefectural Police also urged people to be sensible while hiking up Mount Fuji. More specifically, they said, “Even if it means having to give up on climbing the mountain together, leaving a child behind is unacceptable.”

This comes after several hiking sources say that the unpredictable weather on Mount Fuji can be really quite dangerous. One website states, “The weather on Mount Fuji changes greatly depending on location and terrain. Please carefully observe your surroundings… and take safe and reasonable actions.”