Courtesy photo A medical helicopter touches down at the landing zone set up early Monday morning for the transport of injured Massachusetts hiker Jennifer Publicover to the UMass Memorial Medical Center. (Courtesy photo)

Some eight hours after Publicover, 40, set out around 6 p.m. Sunday in an attempt to hike White Arrow Trail, she arrived at UMass Memorial Medical Center suffering from serious injuries to the right side of her body – injuries that the officer said were sustained in a 20-foot fall off of a rock ledge onto piles of rocks below.

Fish and Game Lt. William Boudreau said Publicover apparently panicked when her cell phone died less than a minute into her call for help, prompting her to begin hiking down the trail in the dark – because she had no light source with her.

Boudreau said Publicover made it roughly 500 feet through the darkness until she fell off the edge of the rock ledge.

“Fortunately, 911 dispatchers were able to provide GPS coordinates” for Publicover’s location, Boudreau said. They pinpointed her position at one half-mile up the mountain from the end of the Old Toll Road in Jaffrey, he added.

Courtesy photo Rescuers prepare to transport Jennifer Publicover, seen in the background secured to a rescue litter, to a pickup truck that brought her to an ambulance, which brought her to a medical helicopter, for treatment of injuries sustained in a fall onto rocks llate Sunday night (Courtesy photo)

With that information, two conservation officers headed out that way, and about 40 minutes later, around 10 p.m., they located Publicover, Boudreau said.

Upon determining the seriousness of Publicover’s injuries, the officers put out a call for additional resources, Boudreau said. Firefighters from Jaffrey and Peterborough, volunteers with the Upper Valley Wilderness Response Team and members of the Mountain Patrol Rangers, which is affiliated with the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, responded to the call for assistance.

Medical personnel stabilized Publicover, gave her warm clothing and secured her in a rescue litter – a basket-like device designed for carrying patients by hand from remote areas with no roads.

A crew carried Publicover to the nearest road, where she was placed into a pickup truck that drove her the rest of the way down Old Toll Road to an awaiting Jaffrey-Rindge Memorial Ambulance, which in turn transported her to the airpark to meet the UMass Memorial LifeFlight helicopter.

Boudreau cited several factors that likely played a role in Publicover’s ordeal. For one, it was starting to get dark when she started her hike around 6 p.m. And she “was not properly dressed for the conditions, she did not have a light source, a map or a compass,” nor did she have any food or water with her, he said.

Courtesy photo The rocky area where hiker Jennifer Publicover landed after falling 20 feet from a ledge late Sunday night. Rescue personnel can be seen tending to her in the background. (Courtesy photo)

Boudreau also said the incident serves as “a good reminder to all people recreating in the outdoors to prepare for the unexpected, to always hike with a partner or group, and carry the necessary equipment.”

He also advised hikers to “never rely in a cell phone for rescue.”

Dean Shalhoup may be reached at 594-1256 or dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com.