13 October 2024
DULUTH — St. Louis County Rescue Squad personnel rescued two lost hikers Saturday evening in Bear Head Lake State Park. Neither person required medical attention, but they would not have been prepared for a night in the woods, according to a news release from the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office.
One of the hikers managed to place two 911 calls from the “very remote area,” with the first call coming at 6:11 p.m., but could not maintain contact due to spotty cellphone service, according to the sheriff’s office. Rescuers determined the hikers’ coordinates using GPS and launched a drone to help spot the lost hikers. Both followed instructions to remain where they were, and were escorted safely out of the woods on foot.
Both individuals, whose names were not released, were visitors to the area and “not familiar with Bear Head State Park’s rough terrain,” according to the news release. The park, near Ely and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, was praised by a recent camping guidebook “for its natural beauty and seclusion, access to great fishing and the quintessential Minnesota northwoods feel,” the News Tribune reported in 2022.
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