Injured hiker rescued from remote part of Great Smoky Mountains National Park

LOUISVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — The Tennessee Army National Guard was called into service early Tuesday morning to rescue an injured hiker from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Shortly after 3 a.m., the Tennessee National Guard and the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency were notified of an injured hiker needing transportation to a nearby hospital. The hiker was in a remote area, near Bullhead Trail, south of Gatlinburg, close to the North Carolina border.

A flight crew departed Joint Base McGhee-Tyson just before 5 a.m. and flew directly to the Bullhead Trail. The flight paramedic rendered aid to the hiker on the ground and in the helicopter before flying to the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville .

The helicopter arrived at UT Medical Center at approximately 5:45 a.m. where medical personnel rushed the patient into the emergency room. The condition of the hiker was not released.

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