Injured hiker carried 8 miles to safety

[dentonfabrics]

True. I emptied the pack to unload things like the camera, GPS, extra raingear, and such, to make room for the coffee and the food.

If you dont mind, I'm going to start emailing my hiking itineraries to you. And if, god forbid, something bad happens to me, I take decaf with a lot of milk and just one sugar.


thx
bob

 

[MadRiver]

If you dont mind, I'm going to start emailing my hiking itineraries to you. And if, god forbid, something bad happens to me, I take decaf with a lot of milk and just one sugar.


thx
bob

Ditto, I take mine black. A blueberry muffin would be nice as well.

 

[dr_wu002]

Ditto, I take mine black. A blueberry muffin would be nice as well.

If you dont mind, I'm going to start emailing my hiking itineraries to you. And if, god forbid, something bad happens to me, I take decaf with a lot of milk and just one sugar.

See, there's a problem that some of you are not aware of. I had considered going with Bob to "West Bondcliff" but opted instead to go to the Catskills at the last minute. Had I been with Bob, however, and we stopped upon an injured hiker I would have insisted that we cooked and ate the guy.

So, think twice about e-mailing Bob your itinerary... you never know when he's going to have one or more psychopathic cannibals along with him.

-Dr. Wu

 

[sapblatt]

See, there's a problem that some of you are not aware of. I had considered going with Bob to "West Bondcliff" but opted instead to go to the Catskills at the last minute. Had I been with Bob, however, and we stopped upon an injured hiker I would have insisted that we cooked and ate the guy.

So, think twice about e-mailing Bob your itinerary... you never know when he's going to have one or more psychopathic cannibals along with him.

-Dr. Wu

so that is how you keep your pack weight down - carry less food and eat more disabled hikers!

 

[SAR-EMT40]

Ditto, I take mine black. A blueberry muffin would be nice as well.

NH_Mtn_hiker is not to be used as a substitute for proper hike planing and preparation.

As such, carry you own damn coffee and muffin.

You too dentonfabrics.


Keith

 

[coldfeet]

Great job HN-MTn-hiker!

 

[HikerAmiga]

Ok, ok, all kidding aside...(muffins, coffee, dew)...Bob performed an admirable gesture and despite the funny remarks the fact remains that he did something very noble, very kind, very uncommon. I guess we could poke fun at him continually but let's consider for a moment how many people we have known to do something like this on the trails for a complete stranger? I hope each of us knows at least one person who has behaved selflessly in this way or similarly. I for one, would forego the coffee or the mountain dew or anything else any day if someone, a complete stranger would be humane enough to genuinely offer me some help in my distress.

What Bob did was "go the extra mile" literally and figuratively. I would dare say on this forum right now, his shoes are hard ones to fill. Yeah!!

 

[hikerfast]

Nice going Bob! I got your email out of the blue(or so I thought) about you joining SAR, and I hadn't read this thread yet! I just read this thread, I'm not surprised at all. You probably wished he was farther out so you would have had more of a hike. I hope it wasn't too short for you. Someone put something about legends of the white mountains in a thread, with your crazy marathon hikes to the captain, and the 3 mile osceola slide, and now this rescue, I'll vote for you to be on the list.

 

[walker]

Would I help a stranger on the trail? YES!!

let's consider for a moment how many people we have known to do something like this on the trails for a complete stranger? I hope each of us knows at least one person who has behaved selflessly in this way or similarly.

I'm surprised you don't think more hikers would do what NH_Mtn_Hiker did. We (hikers, trailwalkers, bushwhackers, backpackers, Ect.) are a small group of individuals, doing what we love to do, in a environment we love, surrounded by the sights and sounds we love.

If and when we come upon someone on the trail needing help, I think we would all do what needs to be done. I've helped many hikers on (and off ) the trail. In the last year alone, I've given directions, loaned my maps out, filled water bottles from my filter, gave someone my "Ace" Bandage, given rides back to another trailhead, taken group pictures (with the camera owner in the picture) and so on, and so on. Yes, these are small thing compared to what NH_Mnt_Hiker did, but they are things I have come upon on the trail and after observing the situation, I invested a little time and effort and hopefully made everyone involved happy.

I do this, not because I'm a nice guy (I am, but don't tell anyone) , I do this because we are a close group of like minded people, enjoying the same thing at the same time, in the same place.

I also believe in "kismet" (or karma if you will). What goes around, comes around. I don't think anyone on this board would have walked away from this person or any person hurt on the trail.

I'm stepping off my soapbox now. Copies of this rant can be bought on-line by sending $4.99 thru that little door in the front of your computer and waiting.

HikeSafe...Walker

 

[Seeker]

D@mn. Well done sir.

I'll take mine with cream and 1/2 a sugar.



Very impressive!

 

[sjhbos]

I don't think anyone on this board would have walked away from this person or any person hurt on the trail.

I agree with your comment and think that most people on this board (perhaps not all) would have assisted an injured person that they found on the trail rather than walking away and leaving them. However, although I have never met the NH_Mtn_Hiker referred to in the article I do think that his actions went above and beyond what some people would have done.

It would have been far easier for him to hike the 7 ½ miles back to the trailhead and then simply inform the authorities, police, SAR etc…..of the location of the injured party (my understanding is that he drove into town due to no cell phone coverage at the trailhead). At this point, I think that some people would have considered responsibility handed off to the SAR and continued on their journey home.

Rather than doing this he decided to get food and hot drinks, went back to the Lincoln Woods trailhead, and then undertook a 15 mile round trip hike back into the Pemi in order to help this stranger, even though he was exhausted from some bushwacking adventures earlier in the day.

Great job NH_Mtn_Hiker.

 

[NewHampshire]

Ieven though he was exhausted from some bushwacking adventures earlier in the day.

Exhausted!? You should have seen he trip report where he started out with a group intending to do a full Franconia Ridge traverse and upon arriving on Lafayette decided to bushwack down into the Pemi and then up to the Bond Range to finish out at Lincoln Woods!!!!

I am guessing he could have walked another 20 miles.......just as a warm up!!!!

All kidding aside, you rock Bob!

Brian

 

[Raymond]

Good job all around, and good write-up, too, but if I ever need rescuing I hope I’m brought the cavalry — I’d already have had my fill of calvary at that point.

 

[HikerAmiga]

...I have never met the NH_Mtn_Hiker referred to in the article I do think that his actions went above and beyond what some people would have done.

My point exactly and what I tried to convey in my post above...while I agree that most people would act humanely and assist someone in distress, to Bob's credit, despite the 'nice' guy I personally know that he is, he exceeded typical expectations and thus, I nominate him for induction in the VFTT Hall of Fame!!

 

[RoySwkr]

Injured hiker carried 8 miles to safety

Did they actually carry him 8 miles or did they drive him out from Franconia Brook? And did they offer you a ride?

I am probably one of the few hikers on this board who has also climbed Bondcliff up Richard's Ridge, and while I would have been happy to report an injured hiker to the Lincoln Police there's no way I would have had the energy to go back.
http://vftt.org/forums/showthread.php?t=3185&page=2

 

[dr_wu002]

Did they actually carry him 8 miles or did they drive him out from Franconia Brook? And did they offer you a ride?

I am probably one of the few hikers on this board who has also climbed Bondcliff up Richard's Ridge, and while I would have been happy to report an injured hiker to the Lincoln Police there's no way I would have had the energy to go back.
http://vftt.org/forums/showthread.php?t=3185&page=2

Nice Trip Report, Roy. I never read that before.

Why do they call it "Richard's Ridge"? Is there history behind that name? First time I ever heard that.

-Dr. Wu

 

[SAR-EMT40]

I just called my sister who is an attorney for the Department of Public Safety in CT and she assures me there is no law at least in CT forcing you to help. She was, however, surprised that a trooper asked a “civilian” non-SAR person to help.

You don’t need me to tell you your sister is right but in CT there is no law compelling you to help. We (as public safety) are required to know the laws regarding rendering assistance. It is actually part of everyone’s curriculum. I don’t believe that NH has such a law either. Most states do not require you to render aid. However, there is a law requiring you to assist someone, even if they are not injured in ME. My understanding and I am not a lawyer is that you are required to render aid for something like a search if requested to by a ranger. The state of Maine requires you to render aid “even if the person being rescued is not in imminent peril or harm”. In theory you could be pressed into service. This is very unusual but apparently the law in Maine. I do believe that this has actually been done in Maine but cannot point to a specific event.

Maybe with a little research.

Keith

 

[MadRiver]

I’m curious if anyone has ever challenged the constitutionality of the law (Specifically the 13th amendment which prohibits involuntary servitude). It sounds to me like the ranger has the right to suspend your civil liberties. It might have something to do with the size of Maine compared to the number of rangers. I was asked by a ranger on Saturday if I saw any evidence of cutting a ski trail when we did our bushwhack from Osceola to East Pond. He said given the size of his territory, any help from hikers would be appreciated. I told him I would definitely drop a dime on anyone I saw cutting ski trail.

 

[NH_Mtn_Hiker]

Did they actually carry him 8 miles or did they drive him out from Franconia Brook? And did they offer you a ride?...

They drove in to the bridge and then hiked the rest of the way. So we carried him about 4.8 miles and the truck carried him about 2.9 miles.

Good job all around, and good write-up, too, but if I ever need rescuing I hope I’m brought the cavalry — I’d already have had my fill of calvary at that point.

My Jazzbo 1.0 spell checker hasn't been working lately.

...while I agree that most people would act humanely and assist someone in distress, to Bob's credit, despite the 'nice' guy I personally know that he is, he exceeded typical expectations and thus, I nominate him for induction in the VFTT Hall of Fame!!

I Love You.
Sincerely,
Bob's Ego

 

[SAR-EMT40]

I’m curious if anyone has ever challenged the constitutionality of the law (Specifically the 13th amendment which prohibits involuntary servitude). It sounds to me like the ranger has the right to suspend your civil liberties.

I believe that you are correct in that if they asked you to help them and you said no, they wouldn't push the issue is my guess.

I believe that when I first heard of this many years ago that the authorities said that if push came to shove they would not prosecute anyone who refused to help. Kinda makes you wonder what good the law is. I think that many people being told that they had to help under Maine statute XXXX would just do as told. As a practical and legal manner if you told them to pound sand they probably would walk away.

This is in no way to be construed as legal advise. Especially the part about telling them to pound sand.

Keith