Bill Williams is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media state forest rangers rescued a hiker after the man fell ill during the 2.5-mile walk in the Rusk Mountain Wild Forest in Lexington. State Department of Environmental Conservation spokesperson Jeff Wernick said the unidentified man, 38, of Killingworth, Connecticut, was rescued after Ranger Christine Nelson and members of the Lexington Fire Department responded to the scene. The man was part of an overnight hike with a small group on the Spruceton Trail. The group hiked for two and a half miles from the DEC parking lot on Sprucetown Road and then to the John Robb lean-to, to spend the night. The hiker had trouble making the journey and became sick when the group arrived at the lean-to. The next morning, the man was still ill, and told his companions that he could not continue the trip. Responders hiked in to reach the man, providing him with first aid and then placing him on a stretcher and taken out of the woods. The man was transferred to Ashland Ambulance and in the care of Greene County Paramedics, who brought him to Columbia Memorial Hospital for further treatment. The entire rescue lasted two hours. The 3,900-acre Rusk Mountain Wild Forest, in the Catskill Forest Preserve, extends from the summit of Hunter Mountain on the east, westward along a ridge of land which includes the Rusk, Evergreen, Pine Island and Packsaddle mountains. Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.