After finishing up some last-minute Christmas shopping at the L.L. Bean outlet store in Bangor recently, I spied an interesting vehicle parked next to my truck from across the parking lot.
Backed in tightly on the passenger side was a dull-finished, black three-quarter ton pickup, complete with a Katahdin rack and a gaggle of antennas on the roof. Though it was unmarked, I recognized it immediately as a Maine Warden Service truck.
I could see a figure in the driver’s seat, and hoped it might be a familiar face from my days with the department.
As I approached the truck, I was met with a beaming smile from Warden Joe Bailey, who excitedly rolled down his window. As a bonus, he was on the phone with retired Game Warden Dave Georgia, and I was happy to share a pleasant conversation with them.
The chance meeting was somewhat ironic. Earlier that day, both wardens had crossed my mind as I remembered one of the first serious search and rescue efforts I was involved in.
Around 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 22, 2014, my phone rang and I was called in to help rescue three Boy Scouts and two of their leaders who had become lost, then stranded on a rock face, during a hike on Blackcap Mountain in Eddington.
I was just one of several wardens responding, including Game Warden Sgt. Allan Gillis, and wardens Jim Fahey, Phil Richter, Bruce Loring and Bailey.
With temperatures far below freezing, deep snow, darkness and considerable time having already elapsed, the situation was about as bad as it could be.
Shortly before arriving, we all received our assignments, and began to prepare for them. The Boy Scouts, ages 13, 13 and 12, as well as their adult leaders, were all suffering from exposure to the cold temperatures. They were precariously stranded on the east side of the mountain.
Fahey, Bailey and I were tasked with trying to find the group on foot, starting from the summit of Blackcap Mountain, which we accessed by a road leading to a radio tower there. Fahey quickly located the group’s tracks in the snow, and we began to follow them, stopping periodically to attempt voice contact with the group.
After a long trudge through difficult terrain, we finally heard a faint cry for help in the distance. Increasingly steep slopes and several vertical drop-offs made it nearly impossible to navigate by foot.
Bailey possessed some basic climbing knowledge as well as rope-rigging capabilities, and we quickly devised a simple but effective rope system, allowing us to descend the mountain side.
Loring had been tasked with breaking a trail with his snowmobile for the rescue sled at the base of the east side of the mountain. When he finished, he located a possible route up the face of the mountain, and began his climb to reach the stranded scouts.
Loring found them nearly hypothermic, and covered them with his own jacket, ski pants and hat to keep them warm until further help could arrive.
The gravity of the situation became clear when we finally reached the group. The two scout leaders were together but unable to reach the scouts. Two of the boys were huddled together, unable to move from their position on a ledge, while the third boy had slid down the rock face and was clinging to vegetation only feet from a dangerous, possibly fatal vertical drop-off.
Bailey worked with Loring, who successfully rappelled to the boys, carrying them from the ledge and across a cliff face to Fahey and me, where we provided them with more warm clothing and heat packs.
Loring then made his way down to the third boy, who he held tightly until a trained ice climber from the Acadia Mountain Guides could climb the cliff face.
Ice climber John Tierney then systematically assisted each of the scouts and scout leaders over the cliff face, and off the mountain using climbing equipment.
Once everyone was safely off the mountain, we four wardens slowly and carefully made our way down, then safely returned to the command post. Lucky to escape their ordeal, the scouts and scout leaders had no serious injuries and were all treated and released by medical personnel.
Reluctantly, and humbly, we accepted meritorious service awards after being nominated by Georgia.
I believe that night on the mountain was the first time I had ever met Bailey. But we were both wardens and immediately trusted each other in the life-or-death situation to bring people home safely to their families.
The bond shared by wardens past and present is special, and I was thankful to catch up with two of the finest in that L.L. Bean parking lot.
