Injured, exhausted hikers call for help
Rangers deal with death, broken bones, dehydration on trails
State forest rangers have been busy this month dealing with hikers who suffered broken wrists, leg injuries and heat exhaustion. At 2:37 p.m. on July 5, the state Department of Environmental Conservation’s Ray Brook Dispatch office received a call from a passerby reporting a 64year-old woman from Palisades Park, N.J., had suffered a nonweight-bearing ankle injury near Macintyre Falls on the trail to Algonquin Mountain.
Rangers hiked up from the Adirondack Loj and began slowly walking the hiker down the mountain to the old Marcy Dam trail where additional rangers waited with utility vehicles. She was brought to the trailhead at 8:07 p.m. and said she would seek medical attention on her own. At 12 a.m. on July 8, DEC’S dispatchers received a call from the Steuben County Sheriff’s Office requesting assistance to find a missing 58-year-old man from Hornellsville.
Rangers, volunteer firefighters and local prison guards searched the area, eventually finding the man dead. It wasn’t immediately clear why he died. On July 10, a DEC dispatcher received a 10:22 a.m. call from Garmin Inreach Emergency Services reporting an alert from a hiker on the trail to Haystack Mountain. The 65-yearold hiker from Burlington, Vt., reported breaking her wrist.
Rangers provided medical attention escorted the hiker off the mountain, reaching the Garden trailhead by 7:15 p.m.
The injured woman said she would seek additional medical attention on her own. Also on July 10, DEC dispatchers received a radio transmission from an assistant ranger reporting a hiker with an ankle injury on the Long Trail to Mount Jo.
The assistant ranger found the 49-year-old hiker from Apopka, Fla., with a lower leg injury. Forest Rangers and ADK Mountain Club staff helped carry the hiker to the trailhead. Finally, at 4:50 p.m. July 10, dispatchers received a radio transmission about a 26-year-old hiker from Albany who was showing signs of dehydration and fatigue on the summit of Giant Mountain.
An assistant ranger, escorted the hiker, who received fluids and food, back to the road by 9:13 p.m.