The caller told authorities they could not retrace their steps back out of the forest because heavy snowfall had filled in their tracks.
A search and rescue team led by the Massachusetts State Police rescued two stranded hikers in Mt. Washington State Park during the apex of a nor’easter, authorities said.
Massachusetts State Police posted the news on social media along with an image of authorities in the snowy trails en route to fine the hikers.
“As heavy snow and darkness fell onto the Berkshires last night, two hikers became stranded in Mt. Washington State Forest. In an hours-long rescue operation, a search team found them and brought them out,” Massachusetts State Police tweeted.
Authorities say the rescue operation began at 7:48 p.m. Tuesday, when the Berkshire County Sheriff’s Dispatch Center got a 911 call from one of the hikers. The hiker told troopers he and his friend had gone for a hike on the Alander Trail in the state forest, located in the southern Berkshires town of Mount Washington near the New York and Connecticut state lines, but because of the bad weather and loss of sunlight, he and his friend could no longer see the trail markings and could not continue to a cabin they were headed to at the mountain peak, according to authorities.
The caller told authorities they could not retrace their steps back out of the forest because heavy snowfall had filled in their tracks.
They estimated that they were approximately two miles into the forest.
Authorities told the hikers to stay where they were and then assembled rescue teams as fast as possible including searchers on snowmobiles.
Authorities say they hiked for more than two-and-a-half hours to find the two stranded hikers and finally at 2:30 a.m., they were located and rescued.
It took an additional two hours to get out of the forest and to safety.
At 4:48 a.m., the search team and the hikers came out of the forest.
Southern Berkshire Ambulance EMTs responded to examine the hikers and transported them to an area hospital for evaluation due to their fatigue and cold weather exposure.
Massachusetts State Police gave a breakdown of what happened on Facebook.
