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June 7th started like many other mornings. Eric and I woke up late, drank coffee with Susan and Mark at Big Eddy, ate cinnamon buns, and played a little UNO. After a lazy morning at the campground, Eric and I drove north to Baxter State Park to say hello to our friend Kip McCarthy and possibly do a little hiking. This was my first trip into Baxter, and even though it was grey and a bit damp I was looking forward to being in the woods. Kip is a park ranger at Kidney Pond, and we met up with him as he and another ranger were fixing lunch for the Student Conservation Association (SCA) who were nearby working on their fire training. As the SCA descended hungrily on the sandwiches and chips, and warmed up with cups of tea, Kip, Eric, and I strolled around the campground and caught up.
As we chatted, Kip’s radio sprang to life. It was a bit garbled, but we caught the words “injured”, “Hunt Trail”, and “too cloudy for helicopter rescue”. Eric and I glanced at each other as Kip bent his head attentively to the radio, and a few moments later Kip took off to find out more information. He returned shortly to fill us in. Two hikers descending from the top of Katahdin had come across the injured man and called down to the park on their cell phone around 12:30 pm. He had hurt both shoulders and was unable to walk, so an evacuation was needed. The man was located about 3.5 miles up the Hunt Trail, just above the tree line at the first iron ring, so as many hands as possible were needed to carry him out.
Kip, Eric and I began preparing to head up. We were introduced to Jodi, an experienced full-time ranger, who would be acting as incident commander at base. She had already begun gathering volunteers and coordinating food and logistics, and over the course of the evening would keep track of all aspects of the rescue. At 1 pm an assessment team consisting of an EMT and a part-time ranger had started off with a basic life support kit, food, water, and a collapsible Stokes litter to carry the patient down. As we packed our bags and filled our water bottles, we listened to the radios to keep track of their progress. Word came to be ready by 3:00, and we headed to the base of the trail.
There we met Stewart, the full-time ranger in charge of rescue. Kip mentioned to him that the three of us all had evacuation and rope skills, and Stewart promptly handed us rope and carabineers and told us we would be the belay teams. By this point the SCA had mostly assembled, so Stewart grabbed four of them and at 4 p.m. we set off up the trail. During our hike the assessment team reached the man and filled us in on the details, while the base in Millinocket kept in contact with Stewart about weather conditions. A helicopter rescue would have been ideal, but low clouds made it impossible for the chopper to approach.
We arrived almost exactly two hours later, and found the patient packaged in the litter ready to be transported. On scene were: the patient, his daughter, her friend, and the two hikers that had made the original call to the park. All were excited to see us and eager to help. After a quick break for water and to change clothes, Eric and Kip built an anchor, the first of eighteen, and prepared to lower the litter down the first set of rocks. The first section that we had to descend was littered with boulders and was relatively steep, so we anticipated several belays ahead of us. At 6:20 p.m. we began the descent.
It was a bit rough going at first. There were two belay teams of two people, one to belay and one to tend the rope. This left eleven people to swap out carrying the litter. The trail at the top is very narrow, so the logistics of moving the litter and everyone around it was a bit tricky. The next group of SCA arrived at 7:30 p.m., bringing food, water, and six more pairs of hands, and they were eagerly welcomed. As we snatched rests here and there over the next few hours, we sipped water, ate snacks, and admired the view. Ironically enough, not long after we arrived on scene the clouds lifted and we could see for miles, but it was too late for a helicopter evacuation.
Night eventually came, and so did other rescuers. Volunteers from the Lincoln and Dirigo Search and Rescue arrived, as well as volunteers from the campground at the base of the trail. Eric and I were often in front of the entire group, scouting the trail and placing anchors, so we were usually the first people to welcome the new rescuers. Around 11:00 p.m. a group of river guides from North Country showed up and cheerfully moaned about 6:00 a.m. guide call the next morning. A few other random volunteers showed up as well, and by 1 a.m. there were about 50 people in the woods, some from as far away as 150 miles. By that time the trail had begun to widen and flatten out, so teams of six took turns carrying the litter between 25 and 100 feet to the next group of six. By 3:30 a.m. the horizon began to lighten, and at 4:30 I turned off my head lamp and began to look around. People dozed by the trail while they waited for their turn to carry, and everyone had the same kind of dazed, sleepy expression on their faces. At 5:15 a.m. we emerged from the woods, handed off the patient to the ambulance, and went to get breakfast. Some had to go straight to work, some went to debrief, some went to sleep, but all were satisfied with and proud of a good night’s effort and a successful team rescue.
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