Visitors to Acadia National Park get this injury more than any other

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 5, 2026

Pamela Gunter began her well-prepared summer vacation by slipping down a steep granite incline in Acadia National Park and breaking her ankle — resulting in a rescue off Dorr Mountain, emergency surgery and an overnight hospital stay. While many hikers depart the park with memories of the iconic sunset from Cadillac Mountain summit or the daring scramble up Beehive trail, a handful also leave with an island injury known as “Acadia ankle.” MDI Search and Rescue, a volunteer group that assists Acadia park rangers with missing or injured visitors, completed 93 missions between March 2017 and September 2023. Over those roughly six years, more than half of the rescues — 48 missions — involved rescuing a hiker with an ankle injury. “Everyone be careful out there — there were 3 broken ankles while I was at the ER and apparently it is so common it is called the Acadia ankle,” Gunter wrote in a Facebook post about the incident.