Hiker found dead after Mohonk fall
Search went on for days, hampered by snow, rocky terrain
MARBLETOWN — State forest rangers and State Police last Friday found the body of a hiker in the Mohonk Mountain Preserve area who had been missing for the previous week and is believed to have died in a fall in that area’s steep, mountainous terrain.
Victor A. Martinez, 45, reportedly left his home in Brooklyn on Saturday, March 11, according to State Police. Authorities were contacted after he didn’t show up for work the following Monday. According to the Department of Environmental Conservation, the last that anyone had heard from Martinez was when his daughter received a phone call from him before he started hiking in the Bonticou Crag area.
The following Tuesday, State Police found the man’s car in the Spring Farm parking lot of Mohonk Preserve, which is located near the Shawangunk Ridge.
For the next three days, troopers, forest rangers, members of the Mohonk Patrol rangers and search and rescue groups from Marbletown and Sam’s Point combed the area. They battled heavy snow from a recent storm and the rocky terrain that characterizes the area.
On Friday, March 17, they found Martinez’s backpack and phone at the base of a 50-foot cliff. Later that day, they found his body about 400 feet away from where he was believed to have taken a fall.
Martinez’s injuries were consistent with a fall, according to State Police, but the precise cause of his death remained under investigation.
Snowmobiler found
On March 17, rangers were called about a snowmobiler last seen the previous night in the Moose River Plains. Ten forest rangers started scouring trails from the Cedar River Flow toward Inlet, and from Long Lake and Newcomb toward Indian Lake. They eventually moved on to the Seventh Lake Mountain Trail, working with Inlet and Webb police.
About 2½ miles from the Seventh Lake boat launch, a ranger found footprints and spots in the snow where the person had sat down. By 7:45 p.m., the forest ranger reached the 61-year-old from Plattekill. The snowmobiler was able to get to his feet and get on a ranger’s snowmobile. The man’s snowmobile was later recovered.