ROCKPORT — With several Rockport firefighters running up one trail, and the fire chief and a paramedic riding a side-by-side all terrain vehicle up another trail, the rescue of an injured mountain biker high on the northwest side of Ragged Mountain was swift Tuesday afternoon, Aug. 15.

A woman riding alone on the Round the Mountain Trail had fallen with her bike and gashed her arm on a large stick. Being a doctor herself, she reported to Knox Regional Communications Center at 1:30 p.m., that she was attempting to stanch the bleeding, and was approximately two miles from the Hope Street, Hope, entrance to the trail.

With that information, Rockport Fire Chief Jason Peasley hooked the department’s side-by-side and trailer to the back of his pickup and drove, as advised, to a home off of Hope Street higher on the hill than the trail head. Several more firefighters parked at another trailhead on Route 17 and made their way to the Round the Mountain Trail.

In the side-by-side with Peasley rode a North East Mobile Health Services paramedic. The two found the woman approximately one mile from their entrance point at the Hope Road home.

“We were able to get to her quickly,” said Peasley.

The paramedic put a tourniquet on the woman’s arm, loaded her onto the ATV, and transported her down to a waiting ambulance, which transported her to Pen Bay Medical Center.

Rockport had purchased the side-by-side in anticipation of these kinds of emergencies — in terrain that is remote, and hard to access by ambulances and trucks.

Those are places where, “it is not like you can pick them up carefully and walk them out,” said Peasley.

The Rockport Fire Department had downloaded points and maps of the existing trails into its GPS system, and was able to efficiently locate the injured woman, using details provided by her ongoing conversation with Knox RCC.

Loose kayak on Maces Pond

Later in the evening, at 8 p.m., the Maine Warden Service and Rockport Police appealed to the Rockport Fire Department for assistance at Maces Pond, on Route 17, in Rockport.

A passerby had apparently sighted an empty kayak floating in the pond, and a response effort was mounted to determine if there was a missing person.

Sixteen Rockport firefighters joined in a search of the area, and a drone was borrowed from the Rockland Fire Department.

The shoreline around Maces Pond is heavily wooded with alders, said Peasley, making for a slow go around the shoreline.

Eventually, the search ended on the conclusion that the kayak had loosened itself from the shore and floated away.

Reach Editorial Director Lynda Clancy at lyndaclancy@penbaypilot.com; 207-706-6657