View Full Version : lightning strike in NJ
4 hikers were struck by lightning on the AT near the DWG. All were evacked from the trail. Hopefully all will be fine. Nature is tough.
http://www.examiner.com/a-2033055~4_hikers_injured_by_lightning_in_NJ_forest .html
TIDE-HSV
05-25-2009, 10:49
I've had so many close calls, on the AT and off it, it would take a long time to relate them. However, I've only known two people, a couple, who were actually hit. They were hit on Stratton Bald on the NC/TN line. He seemed to be unharmed, but her personality was altered permanently. She went from being a confident former TV anchor and TV ad saleswoman to being diffident and unsure of herself.
My wife and I were in two lightning storms later with them, following the incident - once on the Boulevard Trail, from the AT to LeConte, and then again in the Holy Cross Wilderness Area in Colorado. After the second time, I told my wife we were never hiking with them again. I'm not generally superstitious, but I do believe that lightning seems to follow some people around. There was that story of the VA ranger who's been hit five or six times...
Roy Sullivan survived 7 lightning strikes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Sullivan
TIDE-HSV
05-25-2009, 10:55
Yep, he was the one I was thinking of. Looks like he's been hit again since I first read about him...
Terraducky
05-25-2009, 11:35
I was camping above Camp Mohican, not too far north of Sunfish, in a terrible storm last summer. We had a flash of light rightg smack in the middle of our site. We were reallly lucky no one was struck! Very scarey!