Four Appalachian Trail Hikers Injured By Lightning Strike

Four members of a hiking group who were on the Appalachian Trail within the park were injured by a nearby lightning strike on the evening of Sunday, May 24th. The incident happened during a severe thunderstorm on a popular part of the trail about a mile south of Sunfish Pond. The lightning evidently hit the ground near the group, inflicting injuries on two men and two women. Rangers responded as part of an interagency rescue team based out of the park and evacuated all four – three of them with a Gator (an ATV with a utility bed), and the fourth, who suffered a head wound, on a Stokes litter. All four were taken to Pocono Medical Center in East Stroudsburg.