CONTACT:
Lieutenant Mark Ober
603-788-4850
603-271-3361
July 18, 2022
Bean’s Grant, NH – On Saturday, July 16, 2022, at approximately 12:40 p.m., NH Fish and Game was notified of a hiker suffering from an unknown medical condition on the Crawford Path, approximately 1 mile from the AMC Highland Center. The hiker, identified as Joseph Powers, 39, of Portland, ME, was attempting to complete a full north-to-south Presidential Traverse, when he started feeling ill and asked passing hikers to call for help.
Rescue personnel from Twin Mountain Fire & EMS and Pemigewasset Valley Search and Rescue (PEMI SAR) responded to the call. EMS personnel hiked up the trail and were first on scene at 1:30 p.m. Powers was assessed by a paramedic and provided with Gatorade and other replenishing liquids. A rescue litter was hiked in by volunteers, but Powers was able to slowly continue hiking down and to make it out under his own power at 3:00 p.m.
Powers was assessed by the EMS personnel in the ambulance, but was deemed to have suffered no serious medical condition. It appears exhaustion and lack of electrolytes caused this temporary condition.
A full Presidential Travers encompasses nearly 23 miles with several elevation gains and summiting the following peaks: Madison, Adam, Jefferson, Clay, Washington, Monroe, Franklin, Eisenhower, and Pierce. Powers had started early in the morning starting at the Appalachian Trail head off of Route 2 in Randolph and had accomplished nearly the entire route prior to 1:00 p.m.
Powers is extremely experienced and physically fit and had stopped at the summit of Mt. Washington to replenish with food and water prior to continuing on. No further information is available at this time.