Responders carry incapacitated hiker off Reed Lake Trail in Hatcher Pass

Troopers, State Parks, Palmer Rescue and Mat-Su Borough EMS carried an incapacitated adult hiker off Reed Lake Trail in Hatcher Pass on Thursday, Aug. 6, 2026, and handed the hiker to a waiting ambulance, Alaska State Troopers said. Troopers received the report at 10:33 a.m. The dispatch does not say what incapacitated the hiker, where on the trail the hiker was found, or the hiker's condition afterward.

The rescue is at least the second on the Reed Lakes route this summer. Alaska News previously covered the July 10 rescue of David Lester, a New York resident who fell and struck his head on the trail and was flown to a hospital by a Department of Public Safety helicopter. Vehicle access to the trailhead by way of Archangel Road opened for the season earlier this year.

Response times in the backcountry have drawn attention at the state level. At a May 7 meeting of the Alaska Recreational Trails Advisory Committee, reported in July, Allie Sargent, who described herself as "someone who is search and rescue," asked grant applicants for trail call volume data and response times. She also asked whether the proposed access work would "alleviate a really, really big gap in response time" for teams coming from Anchorage.