Mount Katahdin has claimed 19 lives since 1963, mostly from exposure in bad weather and falls from the Knife Edge.
This year we took part in the rescue of a hiker that became exhausted on top of Katahdin. The hiker had to spend the night at tree line. Unfortunately it rained about 3″ over night leading to a very tough night of exposure in Nature. The hiker was exhausted and could not make the decent the following day. A rescue was called to carry the hiker off the mountain. Laura and I helped with the rescue along with a few other hikers and rangers. It took the majority of the day to carry the hiker down by using a metal stretcher.
Although everything worked out for the best. I do want to share an interesting part to the story. During the early morning, Laura and I were checking the weather to decide on our hike for the day. A Ranger asked us if we would help with a “Litter Carry” on Katahdin. Laura and I always want to give back and explained that we would like to help but give us more details. The Ranger then explained that we would need to carry about 100lbs of litter down the mountain. We both took a deep breath thinking this is a lot of garbage and Laura suggested that we could do this on our way down from the summit and it would probably work out. The Ranger looked at us really strange … we then heard a broadcast over the radio discussing vital signs and wondering how far away the “litter carriers” are. Laura and I both looked at each other and said to the Ranger “Do you need help getting someone down the mountain”? The Ranger said “yes, what do you think I am talking about”? Well, to us Litter is Garbage and not a person … had you of told us you needed help with a rescue and a hiker is in trouble, we would have left an hour ago and not have wasted the time discussing our plan to pick up the garbage on our decent after bagging the peak. Lesson learned … apparently in Maine, Litter is a person and not Garbage.
Corey's Adventure Journal (hiking & backpacking) 