Michael A. SawyersCumberland Times-News
CUMBERLAND — Maryland Forest Service officials decided three weeks ago to close the popular, 17-mile Big Savage Hiking Trail after six lost hikers had to be rescued.
The culprit, according to Steven W. Koehn, director, was tropical storm Sandy that struck Garrett County in October and toppled uncountable trees.
“(This year) some folks from Outward Bound reported that there were obstructions, lots of trees, down across the trail, so much so that they were unable to finish their hike,” Koehn said in an email to the Times-News on Monday.
“Later, a group from the Mountain Club of Maryland tried to hike the trail and they reported the same thing. They were unable to follow the blazes because some of the trees with the blazes on them were down as well.”
Then, last month, six hikers became lost and had to be found and rescued by Maryland Natural Resources Police.
“That was enough for me and, after talking with local staff and folks in the attorney general’s office, we decided to close the trail until we are able to cut through and re-blaze the trees,” Koehn said.
“It will likely be three weeks before we will be able to begin work clearing and re-blazing. There has been interest from volunteers to do the work. However, because of the remoteness and amount of work involved, including chainsaw work, this help has not materialized.”
NRP Sgt. Dave Marple said Monday that the lost hikers called 911 for help after dark.
“A GPS coordinate was obtained from their cell phone signal. Officers Brian Friend and Glenn Broadwater plugged that into their hand-held GPSs,” Marple said.
“They told the hikers to sit tight and it took the officers a couple hours to walk to them. They got there about midnight and everybody walked out about 2 a.m.”
There were no elderly or children in the group and no injuries, according to Marple.
Friend credited the lost group for following directions to stay put so that they could be found. “It’s good that people carry their cell phones and call 911 because we can get a GPS coordinate,” he told the Times-News during a phone interview Monday.
The wet and tired group of hikers was found between a half-mile and a mile off the trail in an area of very thick growth due to recent gypsy moth damage that cleared out the forest canopy and fallen trees from October’s storm, Friend said.
The officers hiked the trail starting at the southwestern terminus just downstream from Savage River Dam. Friend said the going was rough due to the steep terrain and several switchbacks where the trail zigzags back and forth. “It’s easy to get turned around in there,” Friend said.
The lost hikers had started from the opposite direction earlier in the day. They were found using glow sticks and their cell phones as light sources and had wandered down the mountain toward the Allegany/Garrett County line.
Friend provided spare flashlights that he carries in his search and rescue pack to help the hikers negotiate their way out of the woods.
“That was a tough trail to hike even before the storm,” Marple said. “It’s not like walking the (C&O Canal) towpath. We went in a year ago to rescue three guys in their 20s.”
The trail is laid out northeasterly along the Savage Mountain ridgeline and ends near St. John’s Rock not far from Interstate 68.
Agency literature describes the trail as difficult with few reliable drinking water sources.
Contact Michael A. Sawyers at msawyers@times-news.com.
