Who: A 20-year-old Hiker from Illinois
Where: Spring Mountain Shelter, along the Appalachian Trail
His mistake: Looks like he was grabbing some firewood and didn’t see the snake
What happened: A man was hiking with his sister on a portion of the Appalachian Trail. Somewhere near the Spring Mountain Shelter, the sister decided she wanted to hike a portion of the trail while the brother stayed behind to gather firewood. As he was gathering wood, he was bit by a poisonous copperhead.
The man was able to make it back to the shelter and help was called. The call came in at 6:45 p.m., and the first responder hiked 1.5 miles and began treatment at 8:10 p.m. In the meantime, other rescuers on ATVs were on their way. They arrived on scene about 30 minutes later.
It is unclear if the man was hauled out or plucked off the trail in a chopper, but either way, the man is recovering from the bite at a local hospital and he is expected to make a full recovery.
Read the story here.
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The 50th Anniversary of the Mountain Rescue Association was the purpose of that gathering of rescue experts.
Sounds like bad luck.
The picture isn't a copperhead. It's actually a water moccasin aka cottonmouth.