Fish and Game officers and volunteer rescue crews were busy this weekend, responding to hiking emergencies from Mount Washington to Franconia Notch.
However, one call involving secret plans and a diamond ring turned out to be entirely different than the others.
Alexis Hardy and Tim Dupere were hiking up the Barlow Trail on Mount Kearsarge on Saturday morning when Hardy suffered a lower-leg injury that left her unable to walk down the trail. The injury almost derailed Dupere’s romantic plans for the trip.
Conservation officers were alerted around 11:50 a.m. by NH State Police Dispatch. Rescuers reached the hikers and loaded the 29-year-old Sandown resident into a litter to be carried up the mountain and back down the opposite side to a waiting ambulance.
Once the rescue was underway, Dupere decided to stick to his previous plans: He got down on one knee, presented a ring, and asked Hardy to marry him.
“She said yes!” Conservation Officer Sergeant Kevin Bronson wrote. “New Hampshire Fish and Game would like to congratulate Alexis Hardy and Tim Dupere on their engagement!”
Hardy was carried to the summit, then down the Rollins trails, where a Hopkinton Ambulance then brought her to Concord Hospital for treatment. Rescuers from Warner Fire Department, Hopkinton Ambulance, and Fish and Game Conservation Officers responded.
