Thompson and Meserves Purchase: On Saturday, Sept. 21, rescuers from both New Hampshire and Maine teamed and began a prolonged effort to help a hiker who had sustained a significant injury near the summit of Mt. Madison.

At approximately 2:30 PM, Jason McDonald, 48, of Aurora, Colorado tripped and fell while negotiating a rocky incline in the Osgood Trail at the intersection with the Howker Ridge Trail.  As a result of this McDonald sustained a significant lower leg injury that left him unable to walk.

 Following the injury, McDonald had deployed a personal locator beacon to signal for help.  He then crawled around in the rocks until he found his cell phone and made a second attempt by calling 911.

Conservation Officers from the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department received word of the incident at approximately 2:45 PM.  Due to difficult and remote location of the injury, Conservation Officers called volunteer Search and Rescue Teams in both New Hampshire and Maine in search of enough manpower to complete the mission.

 These teams included the Androscoggin Valley Search and Rescue Team, Stonehearth Open Learning Opportunities (SOLO), Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC), Lakes Region Search and Rescue Team and the Mahoosuc Search and Rescue Team.  In all, approximately 30 volunteers and 6 Conservation Officers responded to the call with the first personnel entering the woods prior to 5:00 PM.

       Due to the miles of uphill hiking required of most of the volunteers, it took until 9:00 PM to get enough rescuers on scene to begin carrying McDonald downhill in a litter.  This began an all night carry by the assembled rescue team.  After a tremendous effort, McDonald and the rescue team reached the Great Gulf trailhead safely at approximately 5:20 AM on September 22.  McDonald was subsequently transported by Gorham Ambulance to Androscoggin Valley Hospital in Berlin for further evaluation and treatment of his injuries.