First-Responders Searching for Lost Hiker on Mount Greylock

Update: The hiker was reportedly found about noontime Wednesday.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Northern Berkshire first-responders are looking for a self-reported missing hiker on Mount Greylock State Reservation.

State Police Sgt. Michael O'Neil said a call was first received from the hiker around 2 a.m. Wednesday.

 

"Overnight he called 911 saying he was essentially lost," O'Neil said. "He was not expressing any issues like he was injured. He was just lost in the woods. He got turned around." 

 

O'Neil said the hiker is a 38 and from eastern part of the state and was unprepared for an extended hike. 

 

"I would say he is not prepared for an extended hike that is why we are out in force now," he said. "Weather is on our side. What is not is he is unprepared."

 

Through the three 911 calls the hiker made, they were able to "ping" his phone and believe he is on the Bellows Pipe Trail working north toward where a staging area was set up in the Notch Road parking area.

 

North Adams Fire, Northern Berkshire EMS, state police, Department of Conservation and Recreation personnel, and Berkshire Mountain Search and Rescue had been on the scene since about 5 a.m. O'Neil said currently they are checking trails and various outlets.

 

At the moment it is believed that his cell phone is dead or dying and they have been unable to communicate.

 

"We can't read this guy's mind and we don't know. He could have gone back to where he started off," O'Neil said. "We are just checking the general area and all of the typical places where people pop out." 

 

O’Neil said a K-9 has recently been deployed toward Bellows Pipe Trail and a helicopter has been dispatched.

 

"We just have the helicopter working this side of the ridge between the reservoir and the meadows," he said. "We have some issues with the canopy where the infrared can't see past. It is thick."

 

O'Neill asked all hikers and others using the mountain to keep an eye out for the hiker.

 

"If people are coming up to hike just keep on the lookout for a 38-year-old male unprepared," he said.