Two men had to be carried out of Steep Falls Wildlife Management area on Sunday because they were hypothermic and couldn’t walk after spending a night out in the woods. Photo courtesy of Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife
Emergency responders rescued two men from a remote bog in Standish on Sunday after they and a companion got lost on a hike Saturday and spent the night out in the woods.
Joseph Caroto, 48, of Limington, and Stacey Gain, 55, of Baldwin, were hiking Saturday with another person when they got turned around and could not find their way back, said Mark Latti, a spokesman for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.
The three hikers were forced to spend the night in the woods. On Sunday morning, the third hiker, shoeless and cold, left the group, found the way to a home and asked for help.
On Sunday, the Maine Warden Service and Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office responded to the area, a large bog near the Steep Falls Wildlife Management Area, which is located off the Acres of Wildlife Road in Standish. Warden service K-9 Breezy detected a scent and led Warden Lucas Bellanceau to the missing hikers at about 3 p.m.
Caroto and Gain were severely hypothermic and unable to walk. Game wardens started a fire and gave both hikers some food and drinks to warm them up. Game wardens, sheriff’s deputies and members of several local fire departments had to carry the hikers through the bog on litters – at times carrying them through waist-deep water – to get them out of the woods, Latti said.
Both men were transported to Maine Medical Center in Portland and are expected to make a full recovery.
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