CONTACT:
Lieutenant Mark Ober
603-788-4850
603-271-3361
June 15, 2026
Randolph, NH – On Friday, June 12, 2026 at 10:50 p.m., NH Fish and Game received a 911 call about a hiker in distress on the Valley Way Trail in Randolph. The call came in from the hiker’s companion reporting that the 72-year-old hiker was unable to continue hiking down the trail. The GPS coordinates placed the hiker at 0.7 miles from the Appalachia Trailhead parking lot.
A NH Fish and Game Conservation Officer and a volunteer from Androscoggin Valley Search and Rescue responded to the call and hiked up to the trail to the hiker. The hiker, identifed as David Waye, 72, from Glen Allan, VA, had left the Madison Spring Hut around noon that day and it had taken him nearly 12 hours to go 2.75 miles. Waye was likely suffering from heat exhaustion, dehydration, muscle cramping, and other unknown medical symptoms. He and other hiking companions had departed the previous day from Pinkham Notch with the intention of section hiking the Appalachain Trail from Pinkham to Crawford Notch. Waye made it to the Madison Spring Hut the previous night and decided to not attempt the full hike and instead to come down Valley Way as the hike up to Madison Hut had been much more strenous than he had anticipated.
Rescuers arrived at Waye at approximately 12:30 a.m. and provided him with fluids with electrolytes and had him eat. After rehydrating, Waye was able to get to his feet and with the help of the rescuers and trekking poles, slowly made his way down the trail, arriving at the parking lot at 2:30 a.m. Due to a potential for underlying medical conditions, Waye was taken to Androscoggin Valley Hospital in Berlin for treatmet and evaluation.