Forest rangers with the state Department of Environmental Conservation assisted hikers, located illegal deer hunting activity, and helped a stranded kayaker reach safety in the North Country over the last two weeks.

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Hoist rescue

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On Oct. 27 at 11:15 a.m., Essex County 911 contacted DEC’s Ray Brook Dispatch reporting a 66-year-old hiker from Elizabethtown had suffered a non-weight bearing knee injury on the Mount Fay summit. Due to the hiker’s location, New York State Police Aviation was requested and Forest Ranger Lt. Kevin Burns and Forest Ranger Robert Praczkajlo were picked up to perform a hoist rescue. At 12:40 p.m., Burns was inserted to the hiker’s location, evaluated his injuries, and packaged the subject for extraction off the summit. The injured hiker was turned over to Lake Placid EMS and transported to a local hospital.

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Missing hikers

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On Oct. 30 at 6:17 p.m., DEC’s Ray Brook Dispatch received a call from a hiker reporting two members of his party overdue from hiking Mount Marcy. The pair was last seen at the summit at approximately 2:30 p.m., with only their cell phones for a light source. Forest Ranger Peter Evans responded to the trailhead to meet with the reporting party. At 7:06 p.m., Evans located the 24- and 26-year-old hikers from Ithaca, gave them headlamps, and escorted the pair back to the parking area where they were reunited with their hiking group at 7:48 p.m.

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Illegal hunters

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On Oct. 30, forest rangers Jeffrey Balerno and Robert Praczkajlo, along with Environmental Conservation Police Officer Jim Cranker, conducted a joint enforcement operation on the Santa Clara easement in the town of Waverly. Rangers previously located illegal deer hunting activity, including ground blinds baited with corn, apples, and mineral blocks. To avoid detection, rangers were dropped off by Cranker at approximately 5 p.m. and proceeded on foot for a mile to the baited stands. After checking the first stand, Balerno found and detained a subject and his radio, while Praczkajlo proceeded to check the second stand, which was also occupied. Both subjects were brought out to Cranker who drove in to meet them. Six tickets were issued by Cranker, including hunting deer over bait, establishing a salt lick, and failure to carry a hunting license.

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Stranded kayaker

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On Oct. 31, DEC’s Ray Brook dispatch received a report of a stranded kayak in the north branch of the Boquet River. Forest rangers Lt. Megan LaPierre and Peter Evans, and an assistant forest ranger, responded to the location and found the kayak trapped between a rock and a log just upstream from the confluence of the north and south branches of the river. Rangers swept the river shoreline, downstream and upstream, and checked all put-ins and take-outs to find the kayaker. Other whitewater kayakers in the area volunteered to help remove the pinned kayak. The owner of the kayak later contacted dispatch to report himself as the missing kayaker after he was rescued from the river by a fellow kayaker with a throw bag after not being able to handle the water levels and intensity of the rapids after the rain.

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Dislocated at Opalescent

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On Oct. 16 at 1:50 p.m., DEC’s Ray Brook dispatch received a report from passing hikers that a person with a dislocated shoulder was requesting assistance on the Opalescent Trail in the High Peaks Wilderness Area. Two operations caretakers responded from the Lake Colden Outpost and intercepted the injured hiker on the lower section of the Opalescent Trail. Due to severe thunderstorms, the caretakers planned to return to the outpost with the injured hiker. Once at the outpost, they successfully provided first aid to the dislocated shoulder of the 31-year-old woman from Albany. After the storms passed, the caretakers and the hiker met up with Forest Ranger Jamison Martin and an assistant forest ranger near the trailhead. At 7:15 p.m., the hikers and rescuers were out to the trailhead and the patient was transferred to an ambulance for transport to a local hospital.