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News update
Emergency responders rescued a hiker on Yonah Mountain after an hours-long operation on Monday, Sept. 23.
White County firefighters responded to the call around 5:30 p.m. and learned a hiker had gotten separated from his spouse on the trail, said White County Public Safety Director David Murphy.
The caller waited for his wife to return to base, and asked several hikers coming down the mountain if they had seen her, before ultimately calling 911. Murphy said that even though the two were devoted hikers from south Georgia, the wife had become lost.
At about 7:30 p.m., a Georgia State Patrol helicopter crew reported seeing the lost hiker waving a stick with a piece of cloth on the end of it. Two teams of firefighters went on mountain, with GSP helicopter personnel providing the hiker’s location to the firefighters via GPS.
Firefighters located the missing hiker around 10:30 p.m. and set up a rope system with the assistance of the Lee Arrendale State Prison firefighters, Murphy stated. Firefighters rappelled down the rock face to the woman’s location, and she was taken back up to safe footing.
White County EMS evaluated the hiker, and there were no injuries reported.