Rescue crews in New Hampshire were kept busy over Memorial Day Weekend as they helped rescue several lost and injured hikers throughout the state.
On Saturday, rescuers carried an injured hiker for six hours over muddy, slippery trails. The hiker, Jeffrey Meese, 59, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, injured his lower leg while hiking the Webster-Jackson Trail in Bean’s Grant.
Meese had reportedly summitted Mount Jackson and was descending the Jackson Branch when he slipped on a rock. Pemigewasset Valley Search and Rescue, Androscoggin Valley Search and Rescue, Appalachian Mountain Club, the Twin Mountain Fire Department and Fish and Game hiked in more than two miles to assist Meese.
Also on Saturday, New Hampshire Fish and Game officers responded to two simultaneous rescues on Mount Monadnock.
In one incident, Robert Ayars, 26, of Nashua, suffered a head injury while he was ascending the Marlborough Trail. Ayars came across several downed trees blocking the trail and reportedly tried clearing them using a pocket hand saw.
Fish and Game officials said one of the trees had bent a smaller sapling under it, what’s called a spring pole, which was under a significant load. When Ayars cut through the sapling he released that tension, causing the tree to strike him in the head.
Ayars suffered “significant head trauma,” but was able to walk down with assistance after he received medical care on the trail.
At the same time, Fish and Game responded to another injury on the opposite side of the mountain. Terri Lynn Waters, 58, of Douglas, Massachusetts, was heading down the mountain when she fell on a steep section of the White Arrow Trail, suffering a lower leg injury that left her unable to continue hiking. Rescuers and volunteers carried her to park headquarters. She was then taken to a local hospital for treatment.
In another incident on Saturday, a Barrington man fell on the Champney Falls Trail in Albany. He became unconscious for a short time, triggering the rescue mission.
The man, William Godin, 54, was hiking with his wife to the summit of Mount Chocorua. Shortly after reaching the summit, on the way down, Godin fell around 1:15 p.m.
Rescuers from Fish and Game, the U.S. Forest Service and other agencies were called in. Godin was located and was able to hike out on his own with minimal assistance.
On Sunday, rescue officials searched for a missing man in the area around Pittsburg, New Hampshire. Robert Tremblay, 63, of Swanton, Vermont, was found by a game warden around 10 a.m. on a wooded road in Maine.
Tremblay and his son, Travis Tremblay of East Fairfield, Vermont, traveled out East Inlet Road in Pittsburg around 3 p.m. Saturday. They were going to retrieve a game camera from the area of Rump Mountain. The men separated when Travis Tremblay went to his game camera and his father reportedly decided to stay and look for shed antlers.
The son couldn’t find his father and made contact with a vehicle that traveled to town, so someone could report the incident to Fish and Game. Conservation officers, border patrol agents and Maine Warden Service game wardens responded to the area.