The disclosure relates to the mesh network technology, and in particular, to a network node and a method for establishing a path and transmitting data. A method for establishing a network path is provided in an embodiment of the present invention. The method includes: receiving a gateway notification forwarded by a node with a trunk path and setting up a routing request timer; sending a routing request that contains information about whether a path is the trunk path after the routing request timer times out; receiving a route reply that is generated by the gateway after receiving the routing request from the gateway through the trunk path. In addition, a network node for implementing the method is provided in an embodiment of the present invention.