Beautiful and dangerous are two words often used to describe a hike at Glen Onoko Falls.

While the scenery can be breathtaking, emergency response crews had one of its busiest years yet responding to calls at what has become an increasingly popular outdoors destination.In May, crews responded when two Lehigh Valley teens fell 50 feet after trying to retrieve a dropped water bottle. One teen died and the other was seriously injured.Later that month, two rescues were made on the same 90-degree day, one taking five hours to locate a lost hiker.On June 12, crews were called to help a dog that came in contact with a poisonous shrub.In early July, a man was rescued after having a seizure and falling. Three rescue teams were part of the search.Crews spent most of Labor Day on site when a woman fell 30 feet just hours after a 31-year-old woman was injured while climbing the trail.Later in September, a man was hit in the head by a falling rock, requiring a rescue near the second falls.Vince Yaich, Jim Thorpe’s public works supervisor and assistant fire chief, said the average rescue takes two-and-a-half hours while volunteers spend six hours or more when there is a fatality.“It’s overwhelming,” Miller said of the quantity of recent calls to Glen Onoko. “The state paved a road all the way up to the bottom of Glen Onoko and gave everyone who has never been in the woods before an avenue to get lost, injured or killed. I know that it’s game commission land and not a state park, but it’s getting old, and the state has to start taking some responsibility.”Legislators took notice.State Sen. John Yudichak drafted legislation that provides state coverage of workers’ compensation benefits to municipal first responders who suffer injuries while providing help during emergencies on state game lands.Yudichak said much work has been done on improving the sign and placing safety cables to keep people out of dangerous areas, but there is more to be done.Jim Thorpe is usually the first department to respond to an emergency at Glen Onoko, but at least four or five districts respond to each call.“Something has to be done to correct this and make it a lot safer, not only for the people there, but for the rescue crews coming in,” Nesquehoning Hose Company Fire Chief John McArdle said.