A Powell man was rescued from rugged terrain in Park County this week after crashing his dirt bike in a remote area over the weekend.
Bradford James Meredith, 65, was spotted by an airplane dispatched to search for him Monday morning and then taken to a Montana hospital for treatment of injuries he suffered in a dirt bike crash Sunday evening.
According to reports from Park County Search and Rescue, Meredith left his home in Powell around noon on Sunday with the intention of riding his dirt bike, either in an area near the Powell Municipal Airport or the Little Sand Coulee.
According to Meredith’s wife, those are the places he normally rides, but she didn’t know exactly where he was going when he left the house.
Around 11 p.m. Sunday, the Park County Communications Center received a report that Meredith was missing. Park County deputies responded to the area where his wife thought he might be and began searching all accessible roads for Meredith’s van.
The search was suspended at 3 a.m. Monday, but resumed later in the morning.
On Monday morning, Park County Search and Rescue was activated, using a fixed wing aircraft to search the area.
About an hour later, volunteers in the plane spotted Meredith’s van parked off of a rugged two-track trail about two miles from the Powell Airport.
Three minutes later, they saw Meredith lying in front of his wrecked dirt bike in a steep drainage area. Deputies got to him and said Meredith was responsive, but was displaying signs of hypothermia and several serious injuries.
Meredith believed he crashed sometime around 5 p.m. Sunday.
He was taken to St. Vincent Hospital in Billings, Montana, on Monday for further treatment, but his condition is unknown at this time.
