Hikers

BOULDER — Wind and water sculpted the jagging canyons and domes of slickrock in southern Utah. They are still at work. "Erosion has really set in at this area," Keith Watts says, dislodging an ocher-tinged chunk from the otherwise gray slickrock near the end of a six-hour hike he has led across a sliver of the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument. A squeeze of his hand crumbles the rock back to its form 180 million years ago: sand. Elemental to epochal, the Grand Staircase Escalante bares the earth's story and showcases its wonders like few other places.

The body of a Massachusetts hiker has been recovered from a Mount Washington crevasse. Sixty-seven-year-old Norman Priebatsch of Boston lost his footing and fell hundreds of feet into the crevasse while hiking with his son at Tuckerman Ravine on April 1. A ranger had been lowered into the crevasse after Priebatsch fell but could not see or hear him. Officials determined he couldn't have survived the fall. The search was suspended after conditions on Mount Washington became too treacherous.

TEHRAN - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said he intends to release two Americans who have been jailed on charges of espionage for two years and grant them a "unilateral pardon. " "I am helping to arrange for their release in a couple of days so they will be able to return home," Ahmadinejad said in an hourlong interview at his office here. "This is of course going to be a unilateral humanitarian gesture. " The Americans, Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal, both 29, were arrested along with another American while they were hiking along the Iran-Iraq border two years ago. In August, they were...

BOULDER — Wind and water sculpted the jagging canyons and domes of slickrock in southern Utah. They are still at work. "Erosion has really set in at this area," Keith Watts says, dislodging an ocher-tinged chunk from the otherwise gray slickrock near the end of a six-hour hike he has led across a sliver of the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument. A squeeze of his hand crumbles the rock back to its form 180 million years ago: sand. Elemental to epochal, the Grand Staircase Escalante bares the earth's story and showcases its wonders like few other places.

The Vermont Agency of Natural Resources is warning hikers to avoid areas that were hardest hit by Tropical Storm Irene. Officials say hikers should stay off Camel's Hump mountain because some roads used to access hiking trails are closed or restricted to local residents. Both Camel's Hump roads in Duxbury and Huntington are closed, cutting off access to two major hiking trails. Huntington's road foreman says it may be several weeks before hikers can use the Burrows Trail. In Duxbury, it may be months before that side of the mountain is accessible to hikers.

New Hampshire officials say two hikers from Massachusetts have been brought to safety after being stranded near the summit of Mount Washington. The Fish and Game Department says officers were called around 9 p.m. Saturday to assist two hikers on the mountain's auto road just before the start of heavy rains. Officials say 23-year-old Corey Batsakis of Lowell and 23-year-old Alex Delvecchio of Billerica called 911 to report they had made it to the auto road but were stranded without food, water, adequate clothing or a flashlight.

A fire set by four lost hikers helped rescuers find them on New Hampshire's Blue Job Mountain. Police from Farmington and Strafford and state Fish and Game officers responded to a call for help about 10:30 p.m. Thursday. Foster's Daily Democrat reports (http://bit.ly/wS5YuB) authorities said the hikers had cell phones but their batteries were low on all but one. That hiker was instructed to turn his phone off to conserve power and maintain sporadic contact with rescuers. By 11:30 p.m., emergency personnel at a fire tower on top of the mountain spotted the hikers' fire.

New Hampshire Fish and Game officials made quick work of rescuing two hikers who slipped off an icy trail and into a ravine at Bear Brook State Park. Officials say 22-year-olds Melanie Beaudoin and Krystie Gugger of Manchester had been hiking on trails in the Allenstown park when they slid off the trail. The hikers had cell phone reception and were able to call 911 at about 2 p.m. Friday. The cell phones helped officials pinpoint their location and conservation officers riding all-terrain-vehicles — and Allentown police and fire officials — reach the women in less than two...

Two hikers are safe and sound after spending a cold night on a New Hampshire mountain. The New Hampshire Fish and Game Department says it received a call at 4 a.m. Saturday regarding two men who hadn't returned from hiking Mount Lafayette in Franconia Notch. Sgt. Brian Suttmeier said after conservation officers responded, one of the hikers, 34-year-old Jamie Beauchesne of Holderness, N.H., emerged from the woods on his own. An officer then went in on snowmobile to bring out the other hiker, who was brought to safety about 1 p.m. The second hiker, Jonathan Kusiak of Michigan, was...

Backcountry skiers and snowboarders, ice climbers and snowshoers can learn from a few White Mountain misadventures. New Hampshire Fish and Game Lieutenant Todd Bogardus says hikers and others need to take special precautions because of cold temperatures, deep snow cover, and fierce winds, particularly above tree line. Recently, a hiker died of hypothermia following a White Mountain search and rescue. On Feb. 16, a solo Boston hiker was rescued more than 30 hours after he left on an overnight hike to Mount Lafayette in Franconia Notch State Park.

Two Americans who were detained and accused of spying after hiking near the Iraq-Iran border three years ago have been married in Northern California, a family friend said Sunday. Shane Bauer and Sarah Shourd were married at 4 p.m. Saturday at an undisclosed location, San Francisco attorney Ben Rosenfeld said. About 200 people attended the wedding — a "beautiful ceremony" that was held in a setting "chosen for its pastoral beauty," he said. Bauer, Shourd and Josh Fattal, all University of California, Berkeley graduates, were arrested on July 31, 2009, and held in Iran.

Rescue crews used coordinates from a cell phone to locate a Massachusetts couple who encountered trouble while hiking in New Hampshire on Mount Chocorua. Fish & Game officials said a man called for help late Saturday afternoon after his wife broke her ankle. Officers located the couple near the summit of the 3,490-feet-tall mountain and used lines to lower 45-year-old Emily Crane of Millbury, Mass., down steep sections of trail. Officials said crews from more than a half-dozen agencies helped in the rescue effort.

A hiker who endured four days with a broken leg and no food and shelter in the remote southern Utah high desert says her faith and medical background helped her pull through the ordeal. Victoria Grover, 59, a physician assistant from Wade, Maine, was recovering in a Utah hospital after being rescued Saturday in a rugged section of Dixie National Forest, north of the town of Escalante. Grover set out on a short day hike Tuesday from Hell's Backbone Road, and broke her leg on the return hike while jumping off a 4-foot ledge about two miles from the trailhead.

The U.S. Ambassador to Syria reiterated the Obama administration's approach to the conflict in Syria in remarks Saturday to Amnesty International. Ambassador Robert Ford said the administration has been "very stern" toward Syrian President Bashar Assad's military and security apparatus. On Friday, the administration added Assad's defense minister and two other senior officials to a blacklist that freezes any assets they may have in U.S. jurisdictions. "We put these three individuals on the list because we have clear information and...

ALBUQUERQUE - A woman who was missing for nearly a month in a New Mexico forest was found emaciated Wednesday in a sleeping bag with her cat by her side, authorities said. Authorities said Margaret Page, 41, took some food with her but ran out, and stayed alive by drinking water from a nearby creek. She fed her cat, Miya, with cat food she had packed. She was located by a rescue crew in the Gila National Forest in a rugged area of an isolated region of southwestern New Mexico.

Two hikers are safe and sound after spending a cold night on a New Hampshire mountain. The New Hampshire Fish and Game Department says it received a call at 4 a.m. Saturday regarding two men who hadn't returned from hiking Mount Lafayette in Franconia Notch. Sgt. Brian Suttmeier said after conservation officers responded, one of the hikers, 34-year-old Jamie Beauchesne of Holderness, N.H., emerged from the woods on his own. An officer then went in on snowmobile to bring out the other hiker, who was brought to safety about 1 p.m. The second hiker, Jonathan Kusiak of Michigan, was...

Authorities say two Massachusetts hikers who got stranded in whiteout conditions atop Mount Lafayette are safe and sound after a midnight rescue. Steven Eichel, 50, and Douglas Clarke, 40, both of Winchester, used cellphones to call family members after getting stuck Sunday trying to descend in high winds and frigid temperatures from the summit of the mountain. Lieutenant Todd Bogardus, a New Hampshire Fish and Game officer, said the two lost the trail and decided to find a sheltered area and wait for help.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says the U.S. is "deeply disappointed" that Iran has sentenced two American to eight years in prison after their conviction on charges of espionage and illegal entry. Clinton says Shane Bauer and Joshua Fattal should be released immediately. She says "it is time for them to return home and be reunited with their families" more than two years after their arrest. Clinton says President Barack Obama and Americans are expressing "our unflagging support" for the hikers and their families during "this difficult time.

A fire set by four lost hikers helped rescuers find them on New Hampshire's Blue Job Mountain. Police from Farmington and Strafford and state Fish and Game officers responded to a call for help about 10:30 p.m. Thursday. Foster's Daily Democrat reports (http://bit.ly/wS5YuB) authorities said the hikers had cell phones but their batteries were low on all but one. That hiker was instructed to turn his phone off to conserve power and maintain sporadic contact with rescuers. By 11:30 p.m., emergency personnel at a fire tower on top of the mountain spotted the hikers' fire.

New Hampshire Fish and Game officials made quick work of rescuing two hikers who slipped off an icy trail and into a ravine at Bear Brook State Park. Officials say 22-year-olds Melanie Beaudoin and Krystie Gugger of Manchester had been hiking on trails in the Allenstown park when they slid off the trail. The hikers had cell phone reception and were able to call 911 at about 2 p.m. Friday. The cell phones helped officials pinpoint their location and conservation officers riding all-terrain-vehicles — and Allentown police and fire officials — reach the women in less than two...