Curtis Whitson tossed a water bottle with a distress message to try to get rescued after getting stranded while backpacking (Credit: Curtis Whitson)

Sending a distress message in a bottle would not typically be considered a sensible strategy. However, it miraculously worked for three hikers from Morro Bay, California, who found themselves stranded atop a 40-foot waterfall at the Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park on California's Central Coast.