Forest rangers rescued a severely hypothermic and dehydrated hiker in the Adirondack High Peaks last Thursday.
According to New York Department of Environmental Conservation officials, they received a report at 3:29 p.m. from inReach GPS services reporting a distress signal from a group of hikers on the Phelps Trail in the High Peaks Wilderness. Among the hikers was a 61-year-old male hiker from Brooklyn who was vomiting from severe dehydration.
The hikers managed to make it slowly down to the Slant Rock lean-to where they warmed up, started a fire, and changed into dry clothes.
The hiking party was requesting assistance in getting back to their camp at Peggy-O Cabin.
Nine forest rangers responded with snowmobiles and a UTV for quicker access into Johns Brook Lodge, which brought them closer to the ill hiker.
At 6:45 p.m., forest rangers assisted the hiker to a waiting ambulance. At 10:18 p.m., the hiker was transported by Keene Valley Ambulance to a local hospital for treatment of hypothermia and dehydration.