I can see that as well. People finding the egg, trying to flee with it, getting killed by other humans, or wild animals out in those forests, or the frantic parent dragon, or an angry older sibling, and the egg getting dropped and rolling away down a cliff or into a ravine or wash and ending up near the trail.

A dragon's egg is likely worth TONS of gold, and I can see traders carrying it, only for someone to lose it one reason or another, and it hatching where the egg fell. Which is why the little one was still all wet and sticky. It was a newborn, literally. He likely discovered the poor little thing only a few hours after it hatched. And those few hours were likely ones of fear and confusion, which is why it was probably hiding like that. Poor baby. Those kind hands were what it needed. Maybe it's even imprinted on him as "parent". Infants do that to their caretaker(s) very quickly.

What do you think?