Fallen

[rejectomorph]

I found out what all the helicopters were about yesterday. Sunday afternoon, a hiker fell into a fork of the Feather River that has a large waterfall, and a few minutes later people on an observation platform near the falls saw him swept over. As the total drop of the falls is over six hundred feet, there's virtually no chance he survived, but they've been using helicopters to search for his body because the water flow is high this time of year, and the deep river canyon below the falls is inaccessible on foot. It's raining today, so they've called off the search for now and the sky is quiet.

Here is a very good photo of Feather Falls from across the canyon. This is the observation deck from which the previous photo was taken. This photo was taken from just above the falls, and shows the view down the canyon.

This isn't the first time someone has gone over the falls, but I don't know how many there have been altogether. The river that feeds the falls is quite narrow, and at some places you can even jump across, but in spring it is swift and the current is strong, so anybody who slips in is very likely to be swept away, and there are many slippery spots along the banks. I'd imagine that during the gold rush era at least a few of the prospectors who vanished in the mountains probably ended up going over Feather Falls. The mountians are a perilous place.

Comments

[daisydumont.livejournal.com]

What a terrible thing. I'm sorry to read that. (Not going to look at the photos, because I'm acrophobic, but I'm sure the falls are impressive.)