With temperatures last week soaring into the high 80′s around much of New York State, a few hikers required rescue from Department of Environmental Conservation forest rangers.
On the afternoon of June 21, an 18-year-old woman from Holbrook fell ill while hiking the Breakneck Ridge Trail in Putnam County. The hiker’s companion reported that she was going in and out of consciousness. Rangers gave the sick hiker food, water, and electrolytes, then transported her on a wheeled litter to an ambulance.
A group of five hikers from Queens got lost in Roosa Gap State Forest on June 22, unprepared for the extremely hot weather. A ranger provided them with food, water, and electrolytes and guided them to the trailheadNYSDEC
The next day, a group of five hikers from Queens got lost in Roosa Gap State Forest. They mistakenly believed they were on a different, shorter trail and were not prepared for the extremely hot weather. Each member of the group carried only one bottle of water, and one hiker was dizzy and nauseated from heat exhaustion.
A ranger reached the group approximately 2.5 miles from the trailhead and provided food, water, and electrolytes to everybody so they could continue hiking down. Members of Summitville Fire Department hiked in with additional water for the group, which arrived at the trailhead just before nightfall.
On the evening of June 22, a 19-year-old got separated from his party after hiking ahead on the trail up Mount Marcy, the state’s highest peak. A summit steward told rangers that the hiker had been spotted near the peak earlier that morning, and again near John’s Brook Lodge later in the day, lying on the ground from exhaustion. A ranger met the hiker as he reached the trailhead and reunited him with his hiking party.
The following reports are excerpted from DEC:
A wildfire burns in the town of Volney on June 17. A homeowner was ticketed for leaving a fire unattended.NYSDEC
A wildfire ignited on the afternoon of June 17 on Route 3 in the town of Volney. Three fire departments and two rangers had it contained by 2:30 p.m., but remnants continued to smolder for days. The homeowner was ticketed for leaving a fire unattended.
A 67-year-old Warwick man fell and broke his leg on June 20 across the water from Putnam Pond Campground. Three rangers, EMTs, and the Ticonderoga Fire Department used motorboats to reach injured man. They strapped him onto a back board and transported him across the water to a waiting ambulance.
On the evening of June 19, a kayaker became separated from his paddling partner and couldn’t find his way back to their camp on Bog Lake. A ranger found the kayaker on Grass Pond and helped him back to the campsite.
Around midnight on June 18, rangers began searching for a 45-year-old Glens Falls man last seen the day before on the Pack Forest nature trail. Rangers performed linear searches overnight with no success. The next morning a Warren County Sheriff’s deputy found the man walking on Route 9 without shoes or a shirt and took him to the hospital for dehydration treatment.
On June 6, a ranger noticed that a 2022 Mercedes had been parked for two days in the lot at Stewart State Forest, in the town of Rock Tavern. The car had been reported stolen in Hackensack, NJ. New York State Police processed the vehicle and had it towed.
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Steve Featherstone covers the outdoors for The Post Standard, syracuse.com and NYUP.com. Contact him at sfeatherstone@syracuse.com or on Twitter @featheroutdoors. You can also follow along with all of our outdoors content at newyorkupstate.com/outdoors/ or follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/upstatenyoutdoors.