Four Bay State hikers, three who got separated from their Boy Scout troop, and a man who injured his ankle, were all rescued this weekend from New Hampshire mountains.
N. H. Fish and Game rescuers found two 14-year-old Boy Scouts and their 31-year-old leader, with the help of a New Hampshire State Police helicopter fitted with night-vision technology, Sunday night after they got separated from their troop while hiking Straightback Mountain in Gilmanton.
Fish and Game was notified about 5 p.m. that the three, part of a boy scout troop from Brookline, Mass., were lost in the Belknap Mountain Range.
The three hikers had left Camp Bell in Gilmanton on Sunday at 9 a.m. for a nine-mile hike. At 1:15 p.m., they left the main group at the summit of Straightback Mountain, and were last seen heading west on a trail leading towards Mount Anna and back to the camp.
Around 2:30 p.m., the hikers called another troop member to say they were lost. The last cell phone contact from the hikers was at 4:24 p.m. The father of one of the lost scouts called state police who, in turn, called Fish and Game dispatch.
The hikers had some water, snacks, a map and a compass, but they were not equipped with light or have warm gear for overnight temperatures which dropped below 30 degrees Fahrenheit.
The lost hikers could not be tracked by their cell phones because of the mountainous terrain, fish and game said.
Conservation officers, along with members of the Gilmanton police and fire departments and personnel form the Daniel Webster Council of the Boys Scouts of America, responded to the scene to search area trails. At 8 p.m., state police sent a helicopter outfitted with infrared technology and a little over two hours later, located the hikers in the woods, two miles from the camp and about 200 yards off the main trail. Ground teams reached them about 20 minutes later. The hikers were cold and tired but uninjured.
They hiked out on their own to the Old Stage Trail, arriving at Camp Bell at 11:35 p.m.
Earlier in the afternoon, another Brookline, Mass. hiker was rescued off Mt. Eisenhower.
Sergio Mori, 41, was rescued from Edman’s Path trail on the mountain in the Presidential Range of the White Mountain National Forest.
On Saturday about 9 a.m., Mori set out to hike the peak but while descending he injured his ankle. He was unable to walk and could not use his phone because there was no cell phone service.
Mori spent the night on the mountain, in temperatures in the low 20s, and the next morning another hiker came in contact with him and was able to call 911.
New Hampshire Fish and Game Conservation Officers, a U.S. Forest Ranger and volunteers from Twin Mountain Fire and Rescue were able to bring him down the mountain. He was taken by ambulance to Littleton Regional Hospital.