Brooklyn hiker rescued after six-hour ordeal in New York cave

A Brooklyn hiker spent nearly six and a half hours trapped in a narrow crevice inside Merlin’s Cave in Canaan, New York, after a hike with friends turned into a technical rescue that tested every agency on scene.

Crews were dispatched around 6:39 p.m. on May 17 after the man had already been stuck for about an hour, according to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. He was about 400 feet from the cave entrance when he slipped into the crevice, and rescuers eventually had to use a rock drill to remove stone inches from his head and back before he could free himself. Forest Ranger Lt. John Gullen said the space was so tight the man was essentially wedged into a body-shaped slot in the rock.

The risk grew as the wait dragged on. Three of the hiker’s friends stayed with him until help arrived, but they became hypothermic in the cave’s cold, damp conditions. Gullen said cave rescues are especially dangerous because the environment sits around 50 degrees Fahrenheit with nearly 100% humidity, conditions that can chill people quickly when they stop moving. He also said the trapped man stayed positive throughout the ordeal, a detail rescuers credited with helping them keep going during the long and delicate operation.

The response drew on a wide network of local and state resources, including the Canaan Protective Fire Company, Red Rock Volunteer Fire Company, the Chatham Rescue Squad, the Lebanon Valley Protective Association, the Columbia County Fire Coordinator Office, five fire protection specialists from the Office of Fire Prevention and Control, and two REMO doctors from Albany Medical Center. The Albany-Schoharie Cave Rescue Team also responded, and Town of Canaan Supervisor Brenda Adams provided food and refreshments to responders working inside and around the cave.

Merlin’s Cave Preserve is private property owned by the Northeastern Cave Conservancy, Inc. and is not open to the general public. The preserve covers about 35 acres, and access requires a permit, trained cave stewards, and limited group sizes. One account identified the entrapment site as the “Bear Trap,” a name that underscores how quickly a permitted outing can turn into a confined-space emergency.

The rescue also reflected the scale of New York’s search-and-rescue burden. The DEC says the state has more than 18 million acres of forest and wild lands, more than 300 people are lost or injured there each year, and Forest Rangers conducted 362 search and rescue missions statewide in 2025. In a cave, where a single slip can pin a person in place and a few degrees of temperature can worsen hypothermia, the difference between a hike and a rescue can be measured in inches.