A hiker in North Carolina was rescued largely unhurt after slipping from an overlook near the Blue Ridge Parkway and tumbling about 1,000 feet (305 meters).
Hiker rescued after tumbling 1,000 feet from Pisgah Forest rock outcropping
The Associated Press
PISGAH FOREST A hiker has been rescued after tumbling 1,000 feet from a rock outcropping in Pisgah National Forest near the Blue Ridge Parkway.
The Charlotte Observer reports that the unidentified hiker survived the fall and was able to walk without assistance.
The incident occurred two hours before sunrise on Sunday morning. The Transylvania County Rescue Squad said the hiker was at Slate Rock overlook in Pisgah National Forest.
The hiker rolled down a largely barren rock outcropping known for its view of mountain peaks. Rescue crews . had to rappel approximately 150 feet down Slate Rock to reach the patient, the rescue team said in a statement.
Kyle James, field team lead for Haywood Search and Rescue, carefully crosses a tributary of the West Fork Pigeon River. Nancy East photo
It was the fall of 2019, and Bill Zimmerman had just hopped in a truck with other members of the Haywood County Wilderness Search and Rescue Team in response to one of the 21 deployments the crew handled that year.
“Somebody goes, ‘We don’t even have a gas card. We don’t even have money to put into the truck to get up to the mountain,’” Zimmerman recalled.
It was a crystallizing moment for Zimmerman, who had for some time been toying with the idea of starting up an organization dedicated to funding the SAR team. That day served as the catalyst that spurred him to action, and now Zimmerman is president of the newly formed nonprofit WNC Wilderness Safety Fund.