‘Drunken Hiker’ Rescued Off Echo Mountain

Members of the Altadena Mountain Rescue Team Wednesday night rescued a drunken hiker who could not sit up on his own and was stranded on the Sam Merrill Trail just south of Echo Mountain in the Angeles National Forest.

The team had to load the 52-year-old male hiker in a litter and carry him off the mountain onto a waiting ambulance. Team members said the hiker, a Glendale resident, was “extremely intoxicated” and had to be transported to an area hospital.

A post on the Altadena Sheriff’s Station Facebook page said the Altadena Mountain Rescue Team was called for the rescue at about 9:30 p.m. An informant said the hiker appeared drunk and was not able to hike from Echo Mountain to the trail-head in Altadena.

AMRT members hiked in from Mt. Lowe Fire Road by approximately one mile and located the hiker about a half mile south of Echo Mountain.

At about midnight, the team carrying the hiker in a litter reached the ambulance manned by Los Angeles County paramedics at the fire road.

The Altadena rescuers were off the mountain by 12:45 a.m.