Portland hiker stayed composed when sick on Appalachian Trail

TOWNSHIP 7 RANGE 9, NWP – Feeling feverish and chilled with flulike symptoms on a rocky, steep mountain range about 2,800 feet above sea level in Piscataquis County, Karl Teceno knew that an error in judgment could have killed him.

But to hear Teceno’s tale told Wednesday, he was perfectly prudent.

Rather than ignore his illness and press his quest to hike 114 miles of the Appalachian Trail from Monson to Mount Katahdin, the 46-year-old Portland man did the right thing – he stayed in a lean-to for almost two days and eventually used his cellular telephone to call his wife, Denise Teceno, for help.

That help came in the form of a rescue party at about 4 p.m. Tuesday, said Sgt. Roger Guay of the Maine Warden Service.

Guay complimented Karl for regularly telephoning his wife and his friend Neil McKenzie, especially when he started to feel badly.

“He made all the right decisions,” Guay said. “He had held up for a few days and was just getting weaker and weaker so he did the right thing and he called [his wife] for help.”

Karl didn’t seem to think his decision that profound.

“I have been hiking for 30 years, so I had enough experience to know that I couldn’t do the whole 100 miles by myself with the way I was feeling, but it was a surprise that my wife called the warden’s office,” Karl said during a telephone interview Wednesday.

“She’s always paranoid that I am going to die out there,” Karl added wryly, “but I understand why she did it.”

McKenzie, an experienced climber, accompanied Karl on part of his trek Sunday. He said he knew the importance of being cautious.

“We told him to check in whenever he could get a cell signal,” said McKenzie, who also conferred with Denise before she called for help.

A crew of seven rescuers – five game wardens and two Mayo Regional Hospital paramedics – started their search for Karl shortly after 1 p.m. Tuesday. They slogged over the dense, rocky ground for more than two hours before finding him camped out at a Chairback Pond lean-to on the north side of Columbus Mountain, Guay said.

“He was starting to feel a little bit better when they got to him,” Guay said, “but he was still very, very weak.”

Had Karl strayed from the shelter or avoided using the cell phone, he might have ended up dead. Another hiker died about two weeks ago on nearby Barren Mountain in similar circumstances, Guay said.

Facing zero visibility from fog, wet ground and occasionally heavy rain, the rescuers decided to treat Teceno with a rehydrating intravenous drip and nourishment before helping him walk down the mountainside to a logging road about a mile from where he was found.

The logging road is about two miles from the Appalachian Trail crossing of the Katahdin Iron Works Road.

The steep slope would have invited injury had the rescuers used a stretcher or other conveyance, Guay said.

“It wasn’t that we were racing the clock,” Guay said. “They just made sure they proceeded in a very safe, methodical manner to keep anyone from getting hurt.”

The rescuers took about three hours getting Karl back to safety. His friends took him home to recover, Guay said.

“I think it was the heat that did me in,” Karl said. “I think I got the beginning of heat stroke and that did it. I was just spent, that’s all.”

Karl started his trek Sunday morning in Monson, about 50 miles southwest of Mount Katahdin and Millinocket, about 10 miles north of Guilford and 15 miles northwest of Dover-Foxcroft. He was fully equipped with hiking gear, including water canteens. He usually goes on one or two weeklong hikes annually, and said he will do so again, as soon as he gets over the teasing his story is likely to engender.

“I am going to hear about this for a while,” he said.