I've gotten lost on trails in Colorado with my 5 year old niece. Sucks cause they have a GPS app but with no clear sight of the sky GPS doesn't work. And the paper map was somewhat confusing cause it's not one big trail it's a few big trails with little offshoots that break in to smaller treks.
We were going from an archery place to a suspension bridge which led to a playground. We made it but it took a lot longer than we expected and we turned back and took a couple of different trails to get there.
I wouldve never left her though. We said fukk it and ran for like 5-10 minutes. We could see water and some museum type buildings so we were always close to people and public.
I've gone on many hunting and hikes by myself but it wasnt hard to figure out. It's different when you gotta kid that's tired, hungry, has to pee, is hot, is scared...
Still no justification for leaving him. I suspect there's more to the story.