Lost cyclist rescued in Glacier Park

Glacier National Park rangers rescued a bicyclist Wednesday who was competing in a multinational race, but ended up in the Kishenehn drainage of the park and wrecked his bicycle.

At approximately 12:36 p.m., park dispatch was notified that a 25-year-old male bicyclist had activated his GPS tracking device to signal for help in the North Fork area of the park.

Alex Minge of Riverton, Wyoming was participating in the Tour Divide 2022 bikepacking race that spans from Canada to New Mexico when he wrecked his bicycle, lost his way trying got get back and encountered flood waters in the Kishenehn Drainage.

Park rangers began an immediate search and swept the Inside North Fork Road as far as possible but were unable to reach the suspected location of the tracking device due to flood conditions. A Minuteman Aviation helicopter from Missoula picked up park rangers near park headquarters in West Glacier and flew to the Kishenehn drainage where rangers found and rescued the injured bicyclist who was transported by Three Rivers Ambulance to the hospital.

Park dispatch received notification from the GPS monitoring company via Flathead County dispatch. The search and rescue was an international effort with several agencies involved including U.S. Border Patrol, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and Fernie Search and Rescue out of British Columbia.

Folks are reminded that streams in Glacier are very high right now.

The Inside North Fork Road to Kintla Lake is closed due to flooding.

The correct route, according to the race website, is up the North Fork Road to Trail Creek and then over the Whitefish Divide to Graves Creek and to Highway 93 to the border.

Minge made a wrong turn.