Good Samaritans rescue hiker who fell off a cliff upstate

DOVER PLAINS, N.Y. (NEWS10) — The J.H. Ketcham Hose Company in Dutchess County reports a cliffside rescue on Sunday. According to the emergency responders' social media, a man was injured when he fell off a cliff near Dover Stone Church.

The trail system includes a creek, a waterfall, and a cave dubbed the Stone Church. But the trails were so badly damaged by Hurricane Ida that they closed in the fall. NEWS10 was not able to confirm whether they officially reopened.

Just after 2 p.m. on Sunday, the J. H. Ketcham Hose Company was dispatched to the scene to make contact with town of Dover Ambulance Paramedic and EMT. They reportedly found him on the ledge of a 25- to 30-foot cliff with a small abrasion on his leg.

Crews said that he told them that he could move on his own, but that it was too steep for him to get back up from where he'd fallen. Luckily, a group of advanced rock climbers was repelling in the Stone Church, and some of them were trained in emergency victim removal.

They went above and beyond—literally—helping to retrieve the fallen hiker from the cliff ledge. They repelled down, outfitted him with safety gear, and belayed him off the cliff to a spot where he could get back onto the trail. Rescue crews then escorted him out of the Stone Church and released him without further medical aid.