Nantahala – The Graham County 911 Center received a call reporting an injured hiker on the Appalachian Trail shortly after 8 a.m., Oct. 1.
John Cloran – 70, of Converse, S.C. – had left Stecoah Gap around 9 a.m., Sept. 30, en route to the Nantahala Outdoor Center with three other hikers. Later that afternoon, he began having severe knee pain and the group stopped at the Sassafras trail shelter below Cheoah Bald.
Graham County Rescue Squad personnel – including members from the Snowbird and Meadow Branch units, Stecoah Fire and Rescue, and Graham County EMS – responded to the call.
When rescuers reached the trail shelter, the hikers were not there as had been reported. Squad members Tory Lynnes and Brent Eller located Cloran farther down the trail toward the Nantahala Gorge around 10 a.m.
Cloran was transported from Cheoah Bald to Nolton Ridge Road in the Ledbetter area by the squad’s ATV, and then to rescue vehicles in the gorge around 12:45 p.m., Oct. 1.