ROCKPORT – The call came in at 6 p.m., July 14, 2024. Rockport firefighters didn’t return to their station until 10:30 p.m. The call, for all intents and purposes, was a single one-vehicle accident where the driver went off the road. But, this was no ordinary motor vehicle crash. The car in question was on a trail, up a mountain.

The operator and sole occupant of the car had somehow gotten lost while driving, took a wrong turn, and eventually encountered surroundings that didn’t seem familiar to him. He’d turned onto Rollins Road, near Hosmer Pond, in Rockport, and kept going. Down along the paved road. And when the paved road turned into a single gravel lane, with a white sign somewhat visible off to the side that indicated Authorized Vehicles Only, he kept right on going. Up. And Up. On a trail not fit for any motor vehicle, under any circumstances, according to Rockport Fire Chief Jason Peasley. The mountain bike trail had significant slopes and multiple switchbacks.

Finally, 2.5 miles up, the RAV4 could go no further, having attempted to cross a small, 6-foot wide wooden bridge miles from Rollins Road that wasn’t wide enough for the four wheels of a regular-sized auto.

There, he sat, with his dog. And called 911.

Thirteen Rockport firefighters heeded the call, splitting up and heading to different trail heads – on Route 17 at Mirror Lake, at a trailhead on Hope Street, and elsewhere. All of them equidistant, aimed for the same GPS coordinates that emanated from the car’s location, ‘ping’d through Knox Regional Communications Center, and lined up with the individual searchers’ forward progress.

A bicyclist cruising down from up above encountered the car. That cyclist’s call to 911 confirmed the location, and after staying with the driver for a time, pedaled down the trail to meet the RFD’s UTV (utility task vehicle) and show the way back up.

At the scene, firefighters assessed the driver and gave him a ride to Hope Street, where North East Mobile Health Service ambulance awaited. The operator was not injured. 

As for the car, there was just no way that Camden Exxon, any other wrecker, or any other vehicle, for that matter, could get close enough to take it away, according to Peasley. Fortunately, Ryan Gates and Coastal Mountain Land Trust were able to provide a small tractor and mini truck to help get extrication tools, impact guns, jacks, chains, and plenty of water to the scene.

Chains connected each vehicle, and a slow 2.5 hour procession picked its way down through the now-nighttime forest scene. 

“It took 2.5 hours, a ton of rock moving, ton of man power to help get the car lined up for the 12 bridges we had to cross to get the car back to the Rollins Rd for Camden Exxon to load it up,” said Peasley, in a followup Facebook posting.

Reach Sarah Thompson at news@penbaypilot.com