HORRIFIC ACCIDENT

Hiker, 19, Plunges 50 Feet to His Death

The teenager fell at a popular Columbia Gorge hiking spot.

A 19-year-old hiker has died after falling from a cliff above Punchbowl Falls in the Columbia River Gorge. The teenager, from Kennewick, Washington, died on Aug. 1. While the man has not been identified, police have ruled that he died as a result of a tragic accident. The hiker had gotten off the trail and attempted to climb down the rock face to reach the base of the waterfall, but fell around 50 to 80 feet onto the rocks below, a friend who was with the victim at the time told OregonLive. The Hood River Sheriff’s Office confirmed it received a call about the incident at around 7:30 a.m. Saturday. Christopher Mills, a Portland hiker who was also at Punchbowl Falls around the time of the accident, said that he saw a bag around 6:30 a.m. on the slope below the trail near where the man died. “It just looked unusual, because why would a bag be down that far?” Mills told OregonLive. “I didn’t see anybody, and it just caught my eye.” The man’s body was extracted from the area via a rope lift, officials told the Statesman Journal.