State forest rangers find lost hikers in three incidents
New York state forest rangers helped find hikers who became lost while hiking in three areas of Ulster County, the Department of Environmental Conservation reported.
On Nov. 30 at about 1 p.m., a woman received a text message from her 60-year-old husband that he could not get his portable stove to work so he was going to return home from camping on Slide Mountain in the town of Denning. When he did not come home that evening, the woman notified the forest rangers, but she was uncertain of his location. Just before 9 a.m. on Dec. 1, his vehicle was discovered at the Denning trailhead and at 10:10 a.m., he was located in good condition walking back to his vehicle. He did not require medical attention.
On Dec. 1 in the town of Shandaken, a 66-year-old man hiking Mount Tremper began to panic due to the onset of darkness. He called his brother, who called rangers. Ranger Kenneth Gierloff spoke to the lost hiker, who said he was concerned that he would get lost and hurt if he tried to navigate down the mountain on his own after dark. At 7:20 p.m., the rangers located the man, gave him hand warmers and assisted him down the mountain. He declined medical care.
Also on Dec. 1, in the town of Kingston, a 76-yearold woman left her home on Jockey Hill and went for a hike through Bluestone Wild Forest. She became disoriented on an unmarked trail as darkness set in. She was prepared for the cold weather, but did not have a flashlight. She contacted Ulster County 911 at 5:30 p.m. and sheriff’s deputies responded and notified forest rangers. At 7:15 p.m., Ranger Kevin Slade and deputies hiked threetenths of a mile to her suspected location, but she was not there.
They called her cell phone and asked her to call the 911 center to get new GPS coordinates. They hiked an additional quarter-mile, but she was not there either. Slade continued past the second location and made voice contact with the woman at 7:45 p.m. She required no medical attention and was able to walk herself out.