Hiker tumbles 1,000 feet in dark from mountain near Blue Ridge Parkway, rescuers say
A hiker was rescued Easter morning after he tumbled 1,000 feet from a cliff near the Blue Ridge Parkway.
It happened around 5 a.m. — two hours before sunrise — at Slate Rock overlook in Pisgah National Forest in Western North Carolina, according to the Transylvania County Rescue Squad.
The hiker survived the fall, officials said. His identity has not been released.
Rescuers say the hiker was on the Pilot Cove Loop trail when he “rolled down Slate Rock,” a largely barren rock outcropping known for its towering view of multiple mountain peaks.
“Rescue crews ... had to rappel approximately 150 feet down Slate Rock to reach the patient,” the rescue team said on Facebook.
“We estimate he rolled/tumbled almost 1,000 feet from start to finish. Somehow, he only had minor injuries and was able to walk out with assistance.”
Transylvania County Rescue Squad Chief Dale Whitlock told TV station WLOS the hiker “was very lucky.”
“If he would have went to one of the other slopes where it would have been steeper, he would have probably come out with more severe injuries,” Whitlock said.
The operation took nearly six hours and included help from the Mills River Fire Rescue, Haywood County Rescue Squad and Henderson County Rescue Squad, officials said. (The rescue took place near the county line between Henderson and Transylvania counties.)
Pisgah National Forest includes more than 500,000 acres and is known as “a land of mile-high peaks ... and heavily forested slopes,” according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The rescue marks at least the third time this year a hiker has fallen from one of the state’s popular trails.
In February, a hiker was hospitalized after falling 40 feet and sliding another 70 feet at Hanging Rock State Park, McClatchy News reported. In January, a hiker suffered critical injuries after falling 50 feet from an icy cliff at Pilot Mountain State Park.
