New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Forest Rangers respond to search and rescue incidents in the Adirondacks. Working with other state agencies, local emergency response organizations and volunteer search and rescue groups, Forest Rangers locate and extract lost, injured or distressed people from the backcountry.

What follows is a report, prepared by DEC, of a recent mission carried out by Forest Rangers in the Adirondacks.

Warren County

Pharaoh Lake Wilderness
Lost Hikers: On December 12, 2015 at 10:45 p.m. DEC Central Dispatch received a transferred call from Warren County 911 from two lost hikers. The 28-year-old and 26-year-old men reported being lost in the vicinity of Desolate Brook. The pair had fading headlamps and cellphones and did not have overnight gear. Two DEC Forest Rangers responded to their GPS location provided by Warren County 911. The Rangers located the men in good health in the Desolate Brook drainage area just north of the Mill Brook Trailhead and escorted them back to the trailhead on Beaver Pond Road before releasing them to a third party. The incident concluded at 2:00 a.m. the following morning.