ROCKPORT — As two teams of Rockport firefighters were climbing the back side of Ragged Mountain looking for a reported missing male runner after dusk, Sept. 28, and just as Rockland Fire Chief Chris Whytock was about to head up the road with a heat-sensor drone to help in the search, the man suddenly appeared, jogging eastward down the side of Route 17 toward command central.

It was a relief for all, because temperatures in the autumn night were dropping, and the moon had yet to rise in the sky. The man, age 65, had been reported overdue by more than an hour. He had gone out for a run at 6 p.m., parking his car in the Georges River Land Trust parking lot on Route 17, and made his way to the Round the Mountain Trail. But on his way back, he took an old unmarked trail, and became discombobulated in the dark woods.

When he failed to return home, his wife drove to the parking lot and found the car, but no sign of her husband. He had left his cellphone behind, was dressed in light running gear, and carried no flashlight nor water.

Rockport Fire Chief Jason Peasley said the firefighters had recently been practicing drills for incidents such as this.

“We trained up there three weeks ago,” he said, with a scenario involving two injured hikers.

The Round the Mountain Trail and network of other trails throughout the region have become increasingly popular for hiking, mountain biking and trail running. In mid-August, Rockport firefighters and a crew from North East Mobile Health Services rescued a woman who had suffered a severe gash on her arm after falling from her mountain bike on the Round the Mountain Trail.

As a result of the training, and with game plans in place, the firefighters, “know what to do and how to do it,” said Peasley, 

On Sept. 28, one team was assigned the UTV (utility task vehicle) side-by-side, while the other team hiked into the terrain on foot. The teams consist of two or three firefighters.

Yet one more team was about to be deployed when a firefighter caught sight of a man running alone down the side of the highway toward the group.

After talking with the man, the firefighters learned that he had decided to go for a run on the Round the Mountain Trail just before dusk. He parked his car, and anticipated a fairly fast run through the woods while some daylight remained. He set off in a westerly direction, and then turned around to head for home.

But instead of sticking to the same trail, he noticed an old access trail and thought it might route him back to the parking lot faster. As he traveled deeper into the woods, the trail petered out.  Through the trees, he saw lights on Route 17 and cut through the woods toward the highway. Once there, he ran along the side of the road, “back to where we all were,” said Peasley. “He looked depleted, with no water.”

Peasley urges those venturing out onto the trails to be prepared, “even if just for an hour.”

Let people know where you going,” he said. “Take a cellphone, a flashlight and water.”

And be prepared for temperature drops.

Of the 14 Rockport firefighters responding to the search, six of them had spent five hours in the middle of the prior night helping to battle the blaze in Port Clyde that burned several historic buildings to the ground. They had also responded to a crash during the day at the intersection of routes 17 and 90. There were no injuries

Reach Editorial Director Lynda Clancy at lyndaclancy@penbaypilot.com; 207-706-6657.