Camper miraculously uninjured, fire did not spread
A lone hiker from Indiana who had set up camp on Stratton Bald had a close call around 8:30 p.m. March 16, when his small backpacking stove exploded starting a grass fire and burning a hole in his tent.
Fortunately, he escaped unharmed. His identity was not released to The Graham Star.
A group from Cranbrook School that was camped nearby called the Graham County 911 Center to report the incident, and came to the aid of the camper by putting out the fire using water and cutting back the grass from the burn area. The Cranbrook Group was breaking camp to leave when the incident occurred.
They met Tory Lynnes of the U.S. Forest Service at Beech Gap on the Cherohala Skyway, and gave him a statement about what had happened and expressed their concern of the high winds that might cause the fire to reignite. Lynnes said the area was checked with no further problems.
Cranbrook School is located at Bloomfield Hills in Michigan. School groups from there have been coming to Graham County for years to hike and camp. They have been on the receiving end of rescues here themselves a number of times, dating back to the Blizzard of ’93, when they were part of over 100 hikers rescued.