MILLINOCKET, Maine, Sept. 30 (UPI) -- A New Jersey man died after collapsing on the Appalachian Trail near the end of a hike from Georgia to Maine, officials said Friday.
Robert Yerike, 69, of Brick, N.J., apparently suffered a stroke Thursday, WABI-TV in Bangor, Maine, reported. He was found by other hikers and evacuated to Millinocket Regional Hospital, where he was pronounced dead a few hours later, the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife said.
Yerike, who was hiking alone, was in the region known as the 100-Mile Wilderness, one of the most difficult sections of the 2,181-mile trail from Springer Mountain in Georgia to Mount Katahdin in Maine.
Sgt. William Chandler, a state game warden, said the hikers who discovered Yerike called for help on cellphones, the Bangor Daily News reported. Rescuers carried him 2 miles to Nahmakanta Lake.
Helicopters couldn't get into the area because of weather conditions.
"The AT is not like a gravel path," Lt. Kevin Adam of the DIFW said. "It's complicated and when you're taking people out on a litter, it's physically demanding."
