A hiker having a medical emergency had to be airlifted from the Beehive Trail in Maine’s Acadia National Park on Wednesday.
According to park officials, at approximately 8 a.m. on September 18, park rangers responded to a report of a 58-year-old male experiencing a serious medical event on the Beehive Trail in Acadia National Park. Park rangers coordinated with MDI Search and Rescue to assemble a rescue team of 16 people who staged at the trailhead along the Park Loop Road.
After assessing the patient’s medical condition and location about halfway up the nearly vertical section of the trail, the rescue team requested assistance from the Maine Forest Service based in Old Town, Maine, to evacuate the patient by helicopter. The Maine Forest Service helicopter conducted a short-haul operation to transfer the patient to a field near Sand Beach. Bar Harbor Fire Department ambulance met the helicopter at the landing zone and transported the patient to Mount Desert Island Hospital in Bar Harbor.
The Beehive Trail was closed for approximately one hour to allow for the search and rescue operation, and the scene was cleared at approximately 11 a.m.