Maine firefighters remove SUV that got stuck on mountain bike trail

The Rockport Fire Department had to use a tractor and a lot of manpower to haul a Toyota RAV4 out of the woods on Sunday evening, after it got stuck about 2.5 miles from the road on a twisting local mountain biking trail.

“We tend to see some pretty crazy car accidents here in Rockport,” the department wrote on its Facebook page , before describing the operation. “It appears each year we get one that tops the last one.”

After receiving a call around 6 p.m. from a driver who reported their vehicle was stuck on a trail near Route 17, the department determined that it was on the Round the Mountain Trail that runs behind Ragged Mountain and Mirror Lake.

Using the department’s large UTV — known as a utility task vehicle — firefighters found the driver of the vehicle and their dog on a wooden bridge that was about six feet wide. The person was slightly lost, but uninjured, and firefighters took them out on the UTV.

The vehicle appeared to have gotten stuck as it started to drive over the bridge, according to photos shared by the department. The department then used a small tractor to tow the vehicle out, along with a variety of extrication tools — and water for firefighters to stay hydrated on the hot summer evening.

“Next was the process of removing a heavily damaged RAV 4 from 2.5 miles in on a mountain bike trail with significant slopes and switchbacks,” the department wrote. “It took 2.5 hours, a ton of rock moving, ton of man power to help get the car lined up for the 12 bridges we had to cross to get the car back.“

In total, 13 firefighters helped tow the vehicle out. The operation finished by 10:30 p.m., just over four hours after the original call.