Injured hiker found in remote area after tumble down cliff in dark, NC team says

A dangerous night search for someone suspected of falling off a cliff ended with the injured hiker being found far from established trails in Linville Gorge, according to rescuers in western North Carolina.

The hiker was fitted with a harness and helped out of the wilderness around 2 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 20. The search began four hours earlier, around 10 p.m. Friday, officials said.

“Burke Rescue was dispatched following a satellite communication alert for a hiker with a lower leg injury and a possible fall. Initial coordinates placed the subject north of Buzzard’s Point and well off-trail, raising concern that they may have fallen from one of the cliffs,” Burke County Search and Rescue said in a Dec. 21 Facebook post.

“Rescue crews, along with Burke Emergency Services, accessed the area via the Conley Cove Trail with the intent to rappel off Buzzard’s Point. However, due to high winds, low visibility, and temperatures in the teens, teams instead made their way to the base of the cliffs on foot.”

Searchers eventually discovered footprints leading off the trail and into a drainage network. The tracks led to two hikers sitting on their tent in the path of running water, “soaked and shivering, wrapped in light sleeping bags” and showing signs of cold exposure, officials said.

“The patient was assessed and a lower leg injury was splinted before being secured in a harness. Crews used mechanical advantage and belay systems to safely move the patient out of the steep drainage and back to the trail,” Burke County SAR reports.

The identities of the two men, both age 21, were was not released. The hikers were not from the area, and had no previous experience hiking in the gorge, the Burke County Public Information Office told The Charlotte Observer in an email.

“Once they got to Buzzard’s Point, they encountered 30+ mph winds on the exposed rock face and attempted to descend below the cliffs to get out of the wind. There’s no trail in that area, and they ended up in a steep, wet drainage filled with boulders and running water,” Burke County officials said.

“They worked their way down through debris but couldn’t find a flat or dry place to set up camp. At some point, one of them tumbled about 10 feet, not a straight fall off a cliff, more of a slip, and sustained a sprained ankle with swelling.”

The search involved more than a dozen people, “operating off-trail in high winds, freezing temperatures, and dangerous terrain,” officials said.

Buzzard Roost is an “unofficial” scenic overlooked near Harmon Den, accessed by a “moderately maintained” road, according to the travel site Blue Ridge Mountain Life.

“The trail down to Buzzard’s Roost is very short, but very steep. This is not a trail we would recommend for everyone, and only those comfortable with walking up and down a steep and worn path, that requires hanging onto small trees and branches as you go down and up,” the site says.

Linville Gorge is about a 110-mile drive northwest from uptown Charlotte. The gorge is part of the Pisgah National Forest.

This story was originally published December 22, 2025 at 10:23 AM with the headline "Injured hiker found in remote area after tumble down cliff in dark, NC team says."