Court: Injured Michigan Hiker Must Pay $9,300 for Rescue

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A Northville man may owe his life to New Hampshire rescue teams after he dislocated his hip while hiking in the White Mountain National Forest in 2012, but now he owes the state $9,300.

The New Hampshire Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a lower court’s ruling that Edward Bacon was negligent when he set off on the five-day solo hike, the Associated Press reports.

The ruling comes as more states are looking to bill thrillseekers for the costs to rescue them from remote locations, not only in New Hampshire, but also in places like Wyoming, Oregon, Utah and Idaho.

Search-and-rescue professionals say that’s a bad idea, and charging for rescues increases risk for both victims and rescuers.

“Case after case shows that backcountry recreationalists who think they’re going to be charged for rescue will delay calling, often until it’s dark, the weather is worse, and conditions are now more dangerous for both the person in trouble and the rescuers,” according to a post on the No Charge for Rescues Facebook page.

After Bacon, now 62, became stranded on the Franconia Ridge, rescuers had to carry him more than four miles over rough terrain during a heavy downpour and winds gusting to more than 70 miles per hour. The winds were so severe, the state argued, that one of the rescuers was knocked off his feet several times.

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Bacon argued that he had adequately planned his hike, prepared for the conditions and was physically capable of completing it. His attorney argued Bacon was an experienced hiker familiar with the area from previous hikes, and was a victim of bad luck during his 4.9 mile hike.

But the court rejected that, finding Bacon negligent for not taking into consideration physical problems that included four hip surgeries since 2005, an artificial hip that had dislocated twice in the previous year, and his use of two canes – not hiking poles.

Bacon’s was the first such case to make work its way through the courts in New Hampshire, according to a post on the he No Charge for Rescue Facebook group. Another hiker, a 17-year-old Eagle Scout who was stranded in the New Hampshire wilderness after three days in 2008, was billed $25,000, but that case was eventually dropped.

Bacon, an automotive engineer whose father grew up in New Hampshire, told the Portland (ME) Herald that he had hiked the mountains hundreds of times and had been cleared by his doctors to do it again.

Bacon said he’s not sure he will return after Thursday’s ruling by the Supreme Court, which he said relied too heavily on the state’s argument

“It has soured me at this point,” he said. “I’m looking at western mountains at the moment.”

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