The Massachusetts man complained of trouble breathing before passing out.
UPPER CUPSUPTIC TOWNSHIP – A 46-year-old Massachusetts man died suddenly while hiking with his family on West Kennebago Mountain in the Rangeley region on Tuesday.
Jeffery A. Gfroerer of Pembroke, Mass., was hiking up the West Kennebago Mountain Trail with his brother-in-law just after 2 p.m. when he sat down to take a break, fell over and began complaining of trouble breathing, according to Mark Latti, spokesman for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.
Gfroerer’s 14-year-old son was on the trail hiking several minutes ahead of his father and uncle, who were just more than halfway up the 2-mile trail, and turned back after wondering why they hadn’t caught up with him.
The son arrived to find his uncle performing CPR on his father, and was told to go get help. According to Latti, the boy ran down the mountain, and jumped in the family’s van, which was parked at the trail head, just off Lincoln Pond Road.
The trail, which Latti described as very steep, carries hikers up to the summit of 3,705-foot West Kennebago, which sits about 10 miles off of Route 16 in Upper Cupsuptic Township.
The township is just over 20 miles northwest of Rangeley in an area renowned for its breathtaking views, challenging hikes and fish-packed ponds and rivers.
Little to no signage to direct traffic around what Latti called “a maze of dirt roads” made it tough for the boy to find help.
Game Warden Patrick Egan of Rangeley got the call just after 6 p.m. and quickly assembled a team of eight or so rescue workers from the Rangeley Fire and Rescue Department, Latti said, as well as fellow game warden Reggie Hammond, also of Rangeley.
The team went in as far as possible on all-terrain vehicles, and then hiked the rest of the way up a trail that was slippery from a downpour earlier that day. When they arrived at the scene, Gfroerer was dead.
His body was carried out and the team was off the trail well after dark.
Latti said authorities still have no cause of death pinpointed, and that the state medical examiner’s office will be conducting an autopsy. Egan did note that it was extremely “hot and humid” in the area on Tuesday, Latti added.
This is the third rescue/recovery performed in the last two weeks in the band of popular hiking mountains between Rangeley and Grafton Notch, he said.
The family was vacationing in the area and staying at a camp on nearby Aziscohos Lake, Latti said. The family has been notified.
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