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View Full Version : Sanctuary hiker dead after rock traps her



c.coyle
11-21-2005, 15:47
Don't know if there are any lessons to be learned from this. Looks like a freak accident. Hawk Mountain is just off the AT, near Eckville Shelter in Pennsylvania.

Sanctuary hiker dead after rock traps her (http://www.readingeagle.com/re/news/1455256.asp)

Blister
11-21-2005, 16:01
Sounds like a freak accident to me. However caution always needs to be used boulder hopping. Very unfortunate.

Sardine
11-21-2005, 17:00
Reminds me a little about that guy out west who got his legs caught between two boulders and died a slow death . . . he wasn't found until over a year later because he had altered his planned course. . . . sad, sad, accident . . .

hopefulhiker
11-21-2005, 17:08
In PA I remember hiking on large boulders that moved while I was hiking on them. It pays to stay on the trail.

Bjorkin
11-21-2005, 17:20
wow, that sucks. Everytime I see someone standing on an overhang I just think in the back of my head, "that thing wasn't man made and it can and will fall some day." I leap before I think a lot myself but overhangs do it to me every time.

Anyone else have that one trail thing that gets your Spidey senses tingling?

Seeker
11-21-2005, 17:51
yeah... all the time... not sure what it is, but it tells me to leave a situation, go somewhere else, not spend the night near certain people, or whatever... intuition? sixth sense? who knows... but i always listen to it...

Smile
11-22-2005, 08:36
Tried to reach that URL listed above, but nothing there. New URL?

jlb2012
11-22-2005, 08:56
another URL : http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-a1_5hawknov22,0,6692765.story

link to copy of Reading Eagle article : http://www.thebackpacker.com/trailtalk/thread/41359,3.php#1298008

kyhipo
11-22-2005, 09:21
I think that is just terrible,I would like to pay my respects to the family,ky

Uncle Silly
11-22-2005, 18:27
Here's another article from the original paper; some details of the accident. The Reading Eagle site wants you to buy access to archived articles, so this URL probably won't work after today:
http://www.readingeagle.com/re/news/1455835.asp


Service being planned for KU student
A freshman who died Saturday as the result of a Hawk Mountain accident will be remembered next week, university officials say. By Darrin Youker
Reading Eagle
Kutztown University is planning a memorial service for a freshman who died of injuries suffered while hiking on Hawk Mountain.
Sarae Rinker of Cresco, Monroe County, died Saturday night after she had been trapped for more than three hours between a boulder and a tree at the Albany Township mountain sanctuary.
Officials at Hawk Mountain said Monday that the area where the accident occurred will remain off-limits to the public indefinitely.
Rescuers freed Rinker, 18, about 5 p.m. Saturday, but she died about six hours later in Lehigh Valley Hospital near Allentown, where she had been flown by helicopter, officials said.
Rinker was an elementary education major at KU, according to university officials. She also worked in the university mailroom.
The university plans to hold its service for Rinker when students return from Thanksgiving break next week, said Dr. Phillip Breeze, a university spokesman.
“We've been in touch with the family and expressed our condolences,” he said.
According to rescue personnel:
Rinker was hiking with her boyfriend when the two climbed up a hill and onto a 5- to 7-ton boulder. The boulder began to shift and slide down the mountain.
The boyfriend, whose name officials did not know, was able to jump away, but the boulder trapped Rinker.
Rinker died of multiple injuries and hypothermia, said Dr. Scott M. Grim, Lehigh County coroner. He ruled the death an accident.
The sanctuary contains more than 2,000 acres of forest and rocky terrain. The accident occurred off the sanctuary's 8-mile trail system.
The remainder of the sanctuary remains open, officials said.
Contact reporter Darrin Youker at 610-371-5032 or [email protected].