ACADIA NATIONAL PARK — A Bass Harbor woman who injured her ankle while hiking on remote Mansell Mountain here Wednesday crawled nearly a mile before being found by rescuers.

According to ranger Richard Rechholtz, the 57-year-old woman was an experienced hiker who was prepared for the conditions and “did everything right.”

Before leaving home the hiker let friends and family members know the general area she was going to hike in and gave a time she was expecting to return. She began hiking at about 10 a.m. and is believed to have fallen at about noon. When a friend had not heard from her by 5:30 p.m., she drove to the Long Pond Pumphouse parking lot and noticed the hiker’s car was still there.

“She called 911, and got the ball rolling,” said Mr. Rechholtz.

Approximately a dozen park rangers, members of Mount Desert Island Search and Rescue, and other volunteers responded. Two-person teams were sent out to quickly check the maze of trails in the area. About an hour after the search started, the woman was located on the Cold Brook Trail that connects the Gilley Field area to the Long Pond Pumphouse parking lot.

Unable to walk, she had been crawling for more than six hours, more than an hour of that after dark.

According to Mr. Rechholtz, the woman had fallen .8 of a mile away, and hundreds of feet higher in elevation, nearer the top of Mansell Mountain. Although she had ice-gripping crampons for traction on glare ice, she apparently slipped and fell on a steep section of bare granite. Temperatures hovered around freezing and winds were light.

Crews gave the woman first aid and used a wire Stokes litter to carry her the few tenths of a mile to the parking. She was taken to Maine Coast Memorial Hospital in Ellsworth by the Southwest Harbor/Tremont Ambulance.

Mr. Rechholtz praised the efforts of MDISAR, other rangers and volunteers. And he credited the woman for doing everything right. “An accident can happen to anyone,” he said. “She was dressed properly, she told someone where she’d be, she was a strong hiker and had lots of experience. One thing I’ll tell you she was tough.”

For more of the latest news, pick up a copy of the Mount Desert Islander.