The 23-year-old German tourist who was lost was found at 3am in the morning in the Pessegueiro path. The man planned to go around the island alone on foot, but he slipped and then was unable to return to the path.
The man was found by combining GPS coordinates and the light of a flashlight.
He had a wound on his face but left the scene by his own means.
Several members of the Municipal Firefighters of Machico and the Forest Police were involved in a rescue operation that began early yesterday afternoon.