Last Thursday afternoon, hiker Camryn Norton, 19, of Gorham, Maine was hiking with a friend on Maine’s Table Rock Trail in Grafton Notch. During that hike, she fell, dropping 25 feet and in addition to a concussion, suffered serious injuries to her wrists, elbows and pelvis.

Maine Game Wardens, along with a Grafton Notch park ranger, two fire departments, and a pair of rescue groups responded. They carried the injured hiker to the top of the mountain. There, she was lifted out and short-hauled via Maine Forest Service helicopter to a safe area.

From there, she was transferred to a life-flight helicopter to the Maine Medical Center in Portland.

Why is a single hiking incident important? In the grand scheme of things, it’s probably not. But if you’re one of the principles in this short story, there’s a lot of things going on.

Rescuer/Game Warden Brock Culkey waits atop the mountain as the Maine Forest Service Helicopter approaches (top). After the copter arrived, Norton was winched up into the Forest Service helicopter (below) to be transferred to a location where a life flight chopper could take her to the hospital. All photos courtesy of Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife with permission.

The photos tell the story far better than my narrative, but it’s worth noting how many people put themselves in situations where they, too could be injured to help a stranger.

Six organizations sent rescuers, and each of them hiked the same trail where Norton suffered her fall. Granted, they’re all experienced, but even the experienced have accidents. The same’s true of the two helicopter crews who rushed to move a stranger to safety.

After Camryn Norton was transferred from the Forest Service helicopter (background) to the Life Flight chopper, she was taken to Portland for treatment. Just another day on the job for the rescuers, but something we should all appreciate.

All hikers stumble and fall.

And any piece of machinery can fail.

Yet, the people who do this kind of work every day, in every imaginable weather condition - for total strangers- seldom get the kind of recognition they really deserve.

When I looked at the pictures over the weekend, I realized that there’s something we don’t say often enough to the conservation officers, police officers, firemen, EMS staffers and the many volunteers like those of Maine’s Bethel Rescue and Mahoosuc Mountain Rescue.

It’s a simple message: thank you.

—JIm Shepherd