Backcountry rescuers assist an injured Hunger Mt. hiker and a Perry Hill biker
July 14, 2025 | By Lisa Scagliotti Update July 17: This post was updated with additional information about an incident that took place on Wednesday, July 16.
Waterbury Backcountry Rescue Team members responded late Saturday afternoon to assist an injured hiker on the Middlesex side of Hunger Mountain. On Wednesday, the team worked on Perry Hill to assist with an injured mountain biker.
Waterbury Backcountry Rescue Team members work with responders from Barre Town fire and EMS to assist an injured hiker on Hunger Mountain, Saturday, July 12. Photo by Scott O'Brien
The Saturday call came at 4:39 p.m. for the Waterbury crew to provide mutual aid to Barre Town Emergency Medical Services as they responded to a report of a 55-year-old female hiker from Essex Junction with an ankle injury, according to the backcountry report by crew member Brian Lindner.
The call came a day after the Waterbury team had worked overnight on a search and rescue for three young hikers on Camels Hump.
The woman injured on Saturday was hiking with her husband about 1.5 miles up Hunger Mountain on the Middlesex side of the mountain. The weather at the time was also threatening with scattered thunderstorms in the area, the report noted.
The Barre EMS crew arrived at the trailhead first, with their team heading up the trail to provide medical care. They requested support from Waterbury Backcountry in anticipation of having to carry the patient off the mountain, the report explains.
A team of seven Waterbury volunteers arrived at the trail at 5:24 p.m. and established command to organize rescuers as they arrived, Lindner wrote.
Another crew of six from the Barre Town Fire Department arrived soon afterward, with a tracked UTV. The two teams headed up the trail as a moderate rain was falling, the report says.
The EMS crew that set out first met the hiker on the Bob Drew Trail and began treating the injury. The Barre fire and Waterbury backcountry teams ascended using the UTV, carrying the Stokes litter by traveling on an old logging road route for just over a mile until they reached the bottom of the Bob Drew Trail.
From there, the teams ascended on foot to meet the EMS crew and the hiker.
It took the teams until 7:43 p.m. to bring the patient to the trailhead, where she was transferred to the Barre ambulance to be taken to Central Vermont Medical Center, the report notes.
Both the Waterbury backcountry and the Barre Town fire teams had heard the initial call and had begun to organize a response before they were officially requested, Lindner said.
Assisting on the Perry Hill trails
Yet another call this week came on Wednesday from the Perry Hill trails for Waterbury Backcountry Rescue and Waterbury Ambulance.
Just after 11:30 a.m., Waterbury Ambulance was called with a report of an injured mountain biker near the junction of the Camp Fire and S'More trails in the Perry Hill network. The backcountry team was tapped to join the EMS crew with their gear to help transport the 16-year-old patient, according to a report from team member Brian Lindner.
The responders began to set up at the River Road trailhead, Lindner noted, but given the location, they opted to relocate to Perry Hill for closer access. “The landowner was very helpful in showing rescuers the best route in and out to the trail system,” he noted.
The biker was successfully brought out just before 1:30 p.m. and he was taken by ambulance to UVM Medical Center.
The response involved eight members of the backcountry team and three from the ambulance crew, the report notes. These were the 8th and 9th rescues this year for Waterbury Backcountry Rescue, a division of Waterbury Ambulance Service. The unit has had 280 rescues since it was formed in 2001, Lindner noted.
Correction: The number of rescue calls for Waterbury Backcountry Rescue so far in 2025 was revised; it was incorrect in the original post.