Hiker from NC hurt in fall on Appalachian Trail. Rescuers carry him 3 miles in Maine
A North Carolina man intent on hiking the entire Appalachian Trail ended up being carried more than 3 miles by rescuers, after he fell atop a mountain in western Maine.
Richard Sullivan, 65 of Archdale, N.C., was injured while hiking with his son, Daniel Sullivan, 36, according to the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife.
Richard Sullivan slipped and fell about 1 p.m. Wednesday on a remote part of the Appalachian Trail that is miles from the nearest road, officials said.
As a result, it took rescuers four hours to reach him and nearly five hours to carry him out, officials said.
“The pair were at the top of 4,009-foot Spaulding Mountain when he slipped and fell, likely breaking his right ankle. (He) was unable to walk,” the department said in a release.
“Trail conditions were wet, rocky and steep. Rescuers reached (Sullivan) by first traveling to the top of 4,237 (foot) Sugarloaf Mountain by vehicle on a maintenance road, and then hiking approximately 3.5 miles down the back side of Sugarloaf Mountain to (Sullivan’s) location on Spaulding Mountain.”
Rescuers used a litter equipped with a mountain bike wheel to carry Sullivan out of the wilderness. The team reached a waiting vehicle around 10:40 p.m. Wednesday, officials said.
He was driven to a nearby fire department, where an ambulance transported him to Franklin County Memorial Hospital 35 miles south in Farmington, officials said.
Richard Sullivan has been posting entries in an online journal about his trail activities, and he said the accident occurred when they were attempting a 6-mile stretch from Crocker Cirque Campsite to Spaulding Mountain Lean-to.
“About a half-mile from the lean-to, my foot slipped on a wet rock,” he posted.
“Trying to stop a fall, I tried planting my right foot, but it got stuck in a hole and I kept falling. When I heard and felt a snap, I thought it would be no good. When I looked at my leg and saw my foot dangling to one side, I knew it wasn’t. Trying to move it brought intense pain.”
X-rays revealed both bones in his lower leg were broken in the fall, he said. “Daniel and I are flying back to NC (Friday) and I have an appointment with an Orthopedic surgeon on Monday,” he said.
Sullivan and his son have hiked 201 miles of the Appalachian Trail so far this year, the journal reports.
About 35 first responders and volunteers participated in the rescue, officials said.
“Without the assistance from all of the first responders and volunteers, getting (Sullivan) off of the trail would have taken much longer,” Maine Game Warden Sgt. Scott Thrasher said in a release.
The Appalachian Trail is the world’s “longest hiking-only footpath,” covering 2,193 miles across 14 states, from Maine to Georgia, according to the Appalachian Trail Conservancy. Nearly 300 miles of the trail run through Maine.
“Maine is the A.T.’s most challenging, rugged and remote state, and it has the wildest feel of any area of the trail,” the conservancy reports. “It’s also famous for hosting the hardest mile of the Trail: Mahoosuc Notch.”
This story was originally published July 16, 2021 at 12:10 PM with the headline "Hiker from NC hurt in fall on Appalachian Trail. Rescuers carry him 3 miles in Maine."