Baxter State Park Accident reports?

[Thunder Dan]

Do any of you know of a website where they post accident/rescue reports for Baxter State Park?

I was hiking down the Hunt Trail and a gentleman was stuck up on the Tablelands just before the trail really drops. My friends and I helped a little bit and we saw several BSP rescuers on their way up to help. I am just curious as to the outcome. I can hardly imagine people carrying somebody down such rough terrain, and I hear helicopter availablility is few and far between. It is hard enough just to HIKE down nevermind carry someone else down.

 

[twigeater]

I don't know of any, but would be interested if you find one.

I was in BSP when a woman (Rachel Therrien) saw a "better" way off the Knife Edge and ended up staying on the mountain all night screaming for someone to help her. Ranger Stuart Guay started up the Dudley trail at 8pm with a volunteer. The volunteer turned around at Pamola Peak, and Stuart continued on the Knife Edge and down Saddle, returning to camp around 2am. He couldn't reach her.

The rescue helicopter landed right in front of our lean-to (#1, it used to face the open field in front of the bunkhouse) bringing in the Wilderness Rescue team and a rope team. The helicopter flew up against Katahdin (looked like a dot) rescuers spoke to her.

Anyway, we finally had to leave around 5pm after watching the rescue all day. We stayed up all excited to see the news, and there was nothing. Later that week, a small blurb appeared in the Bangor Daily news.

What I'm getting at I guess, is it doesn't seem to be real big news, or perhaps BSP doesn't want it to be.

Headquarters does have a list of deaths in their records that you can get. Not sure about the rescue stuff. It goes on more often that people think.

 

[Waumbek]

Here's a list of BSP fatalities, but it's not issued by the park authority itself so I can't vouch for reliability.

Here's what BSP itself says:

[start quote]Stay on the Trails. Since 1963, there have been 19 fatalities on Katahdin alone (and numerous lost person injuries), 80% of which were caused by people leaving the trail. Staying on the trails also helps us preserve the flora throughout the park, which is especially fragile in the alpine zone above treeline. [end quote]

 

[twigeater]

Thats the same list I have, though it's not updated.

Half of the information we got about the rescue we witnessed was due in part to knowing the people who were involved in the accident, and talking with rangers later on.

 

[king tut]

there have been a few since 98, but i guess the list hasn't been updated. There was a guy who died on the cathedral trail from a boulder slide, i believe last year. There was a kid around high school age that died 2 years ago from what was i believe heat exhaustion. It was around june 14th. I had been there either right before or right after that incident, i don't recall. I hiked up one day w/ my dad, and the next morning we helped haul a young female down on a stretcher that had hurt her knee and had spent the night in the chimney pond area. It had been really hot at the time and the bugs were ferocious. You couldn't stop for more than a few seconds w/out getting eaten. The younger guy might have been dehydrated from the heat and running from the bugs. We talked to the ambulance driver for a few seconds when they were bringing the girl away, and he had actually gone to gulf hagas the day before and brought 2 bodies out from the gorge, 2 guys from texas i believe who had been jumping head first into the gorge. I also recall seeing a story about a guy w/ one leg that climbed up the hunt trail but was too exhausted to make it down, so they flew a helicopter up to get him on the tablelands. That was a year or 2 ago. He had a journal online at trailjournals.com.