Midnight Rescue: Yeshiva Student Saved After Nightmare in Harriman State Park
A 20-year-old yeshiva student was rescued from Harriman State Park after a solo camping trip went wrong. Lacking a GPS or smartphone, the hiker spent a harrowing night lost in the mountains.
A 20-year-old yeshiva student’s planned night of solitude and camping turned into a harrowing ordeal Sunday night after he became lost in the densely forested terrain of Harriman State Park.
The rescue, coordinated by Chaverim of Rockland and the New York State Park Police, brought a safe end to an intensive hours-long search through the rugged mountain wilderness.
A Paper Map and a Wrong Turn
The incident began around 5:45 PM when the student left his yeshiva for a solo trek. Armed only with a printed map he had produced from a computer, his goal was a one-hour hike to a secluded shelter where he planned to spend the night.
However, amidst the park’s winding and heavily wooded trail system, he missed a turn. As darkness fell over the mountains, he found himself isolated and disoriented, unable to locate the shelter or find his way back to the trailhead.
The Challenge: No GPS
Rescuers faced a significant hurdle: the student did not have a smartphone or any GPS-enabled device to transmit his coordinates. At 10:00 PM, realizing he was in danger as temperatures dropped, the hiker called the Chaverim emergency hotline to report he was lost.
Without digital location data, dispatchers had to rely on "old-school" investigative techniques. Volunteers spent hours on the phone with the panicked student, meticulously questioning him about:
The Critical Clue
The breakthrough occurred when the student mentioned passing a specific area of "rock scrambling." This detail allowed search teams to narrow the vast park down to a few high-probability zones.
Multiple teams fanned out into the brush, navigating difficult terrain throughout the night. By this time, the student’s desire to camp had vanished, replaced by deep anxiety and a plea to return home.
In the early morning hours, Chaverim volunteers successfully located the student in the heart of the forest. He was escorted out of the woods in good health and reunited with his community, bringing a tense night to a grateful conclusion.