Heroes of the week: Rescuers carry injured woman, 25, down hiking path

It's unsettling to think about being injured while hiking and far away from help. One woman who did get injured but was helped by fellow hikers and then Conservation officers and 22 volunteers from Androscoggin Valley Search and Rescue and Pemigewassett Valley Search and Rescue. Here's the story.

 (File photo from  Pemigewassett Valley Search and Rescue website. Not a photo from this rescue. Credit: PVSR)

Rescuers carry injured Somerville woman, 25, nearly 2 miles down hiking path

By Lindsay Shachnow, Boston com, September 30, 2024

A 25-year-old woman slipped and fell while hiking on Edmands Path in Sargent’s Purchase on Sunday, Sept 29, 2024, officials say.

At 12:15 p.m., the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department was notified that a hiker was injured about two miles from the Edmands Path trailhead parking lot, according to a statement from the department.

Kyleigh Burns of Somerville, Mass. injured her lower leg on the trail. People in her hiking group tried to treat the injury, but Burns “could not bear any weight” so 911 was called, the statement said.

(Photo: Mt Eisenhower (4,760 feet) Mt Monroe (5,372 feet). Chandler’s & Sargent’s Purchase, NH.  Via Edmand’s Path, Crawford’s Path, plus loop trails on each summit. 10.5 miles round-trip. by proteanwanderer_zznzkw )

Fellow hikers helped Burns to descend about 1,000 feet by “scooting herself down the trail” before rescuers arrived, authorities said.

Conservation officers and 22 volunteers from Androscoggin Valley Search and Rescue and Pemigewassett Valley Search and Rescue responded to the call for help.

Responders hiked up Edmands Path, put Burns into a rescue litter, and carried her down the trail, officials said.

They reached the parking lot at 4:30 p.m.

Burns declined taking an ambulance, and her hiking companions instead took her to a medical facility for treatment.