Image from adkhighpeaks.com
It is being reported that a hiker has been found dead in the Adirondack High Peaks. The body of the hiker, who has been missing since Sunday afternoon, was found by an interior caretaker with the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
Julie Belanger, 34, of Montreal, Quebec, was hiking with a female companion when at around 7 p.m. on Saturday Belanger fell off of a log while crossing Feldspar Brook and was swept away by the current.
Belanger’s hiking companion could not get cell phone service to call for help at the time of the accident., Heavy rain forced her to take refuge at the Feldspar Brook lean-to until she was assisted by other hikers the next day.
According to lakeplacidnews.com, “State Police Aviation and DEC forest rangers hoisted Belanger’s body from the Lake Arnold area at about 7:10 p.m. Her body was flown to the Lake Placid Airport, where she was officially pronounced dead by Essex County Coroner Francis Whitelaw. Whitelaw ruled the manner of death accidental.
Belanger’s body was then taken to the Adirondack Medical Center in Saranac Lake, where an autopsy was performed Monday morning by Dr. C. Francis Varga, who determined the cause of death to be asphyxiation due to fresh water drowning.”
