KINGSTON – New York State
forest rangers assisted in locating hikers who became lost while hiking
in three areas of Ulster County.
On November 30 at about 1 p.m., a woman received a text message from her
60-year-old husband that he could not get his portable stove to work so
he was going to return home from camping on Slide Mountain in the Town
of Denning.
When he did not come home that evening, the woman notified the forest
rangers, but she was uncertain as to his whereabouts.
Just before 9 a.m. on December 1, his vehicle was discovered at Denning
Trailhead and at 10:10 a.m., he was located in good condition walking
back to his vehicle. He did not require medical attention.
On December 1 in the Town of Shandaken, a 66-year-old man hiking Mount
Tremper began to panic due to the onset of darkness. He called his brother,
who called rangers. Ranger Kenneth Gierloff spoke to the lost hiker, who
said he was concerned that he would get lost and hurt if he tried to navigate
down the mountain on his own after dark. At 7:20 p.m., the rangers located
the man, gave him hand warmers and assisted him down the mountain. He
refused medical care.
Also on December 1, this time in the Town of Kingston, a 76-year-old woman
left her home on Jockey Hill and went for a hike through Bluestone Wild
Forest. She began disoriented on an unmarked trail as darkness set in.
she was prepared for the cold weather, but did not have a flashlight.
She contacted Ulster County 911 at 5:30 p.m. and sheriff’s deputies
responded and notified forest rangers. At 7:15 p.m., Ranger Kevin Slade
and deputies hiked three-tenths of a mile to her suspected location, but
she was not there. They called her cell phone and asked her to call the
911 center to get new GPS coordinates. They hiked an additional quarter-mile,
but she was not there either. Slade continued past the second location
and made voice contact with the woman at 7:45 p.m. She required no medical
attention and was able to walk herself out.
