This story from Yosemite makes my stomach jump.
It’s easy to see how it would happen: A group of hikers makes it up Mist Trail, a short, shady, family-friendly trail that, in spite of being such an easy hike, leads to one of the most beautiful lookouts at Yosemite National Park, as well as one of the most beautiful swimming holes, Emerald Pool. It’s got intense green algae (thus the name) and slippery granite sides, so you can spend hours goofing off like this. (That might as well be a photo from the Frizzelle family album—my parents loved Yosemite, loved the Mist Trail, loved the Emerald Pool.)
Emerald Pool and the edge of the waterfall are separated by a metal barricade and signs in multiple languages warning people not to climb over it, but after the hikers spent time goofing off in Emerald Pool, someone got the big idea to scale the barricade and get closer to that glorious lookout—after all the barricade is still a ways from the edge of the waterfall. But granite covered in algae covered in water is slipperier than an oil slick on an ice rink. Reportedly, the 21-year-old, 22-year-old, and 27-year-old “were in the water about 25 feet from the edge of a waterfall, standing, playing and taking photographs.” Then: “One of the victims then slipped and fell, the second victim tried to rescue that person, and the third victim tried to save the other two.”
Their bodies haven’t been found yet.
Frizzelle, WTF? You just told all your readers that Emerald Pool is safe and there’s some sort of stopper for people who are swimming there and the waterfall. I just spent 20 minutes looking for such a barricade and it doesn’t exist. Those three could have just as easily started from Emerald Pool and gone over the falls (as @16 says, someone did in 2005). Can you fix your post to clarify this? There are a lot of stupid people in the world, and you probably just sent a few to their deaths.
A stopper *between* the pool and the waterfall, and there isn’t.
@23: Hey Irene, when I’m passing someone on a two-lane road, I need to speed to get around them. That does not carry nearly the same amount of risk as swimming in a mountain stream right next to a waterfall and signs telling people not to.
@42: There is always that group of hikers who decides to head out right after a storm warning, or in the middle of the off-season. Patience.
@51: flow levels were possibly a bit lower than that(but probably by not much) and they felt safe enough to go out on the rocks. Even though going out there at any time would most likely be courting death.
@55: I don’t mind that they do that, but that they also put their potential rescuers @ risk just shows how selfish and misguided they really are…
@54: I didn’t say it carried the same amount of risk. My point was that people take stupid risks, especially when they’re young, and it seems disingenuous to pretend there are idiots who deserve death, and then there are the rest of us. If you never drove 15-20 miles over the speed limit at any point when you were young, congratulations. Most of us did.
See @26.
The thing that gets me is, these people weren’t *that* young. The 22 year old perhaps could have the young and foolish card played posthumously, but 24 years old is pushing the upper limit of that, and 27 is well beyond it. Tragic, yes indeed.
I read about some college students working in Yellowstone who wandered off for late night hot potting, soaking in some of the pools that aren’t scaldingly hot (against the rules, but something that most of the summer workers seem to do anyway). Disoriented in the dark, they jumped together over what they thought was a stream, turned out to be the edge of one of the hottest pools in the area, all 3 died. Sadly, this is not that uncommon. We live in a culture of I know the rules, but they don’t apply to me. That applies to speeding, venturing off the marked trail, getting a little closer to the edge to see what maybe no one else has ever seen–it’s our mindset. I will freely admit to being just as guilty as anyone else: I drive too fast daily, and have gone past the signs that say no further.
However, the attitude of this is what you get when you break the rules is just callous. There was no ill will here on the part of these young people. We shouldn’t bring ill will into the equation.
it was sad and beautiful that the couple held on to each other as they went over … apparently the look on the solo guy’s face as the water took him to the edge was heartbreaking. yes, they were stupid, and they got their just desserts, but it’s effing sad as hell. when i first read this story i had a visceral reaction and had to force myself to think away.
@51 The story is not clear yet on where they crossed the barrier. I’ve been reading California news sites all day trying to get more information. That video I posted is one month old, and the stream flow has probably lessened. But we are experiencing a very heavy snowpack and late melt with heavy runoff this year. Two hikers were washed off a bridge in the Sierras a few weeks ago.
Here’s the sign that’s posted showing the danger zones. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Emerald_poolwarningsign.JPG“>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Emeral… The Emerald Pool is a real attraction during calmer, drier times of the season. But here’s a video showing the flow into this pool posted a year ago: http://youtu.be/eEHT93UL-R0 and then this was posted today: http://youtu.be/tjqOCUz3rZE
See the difference? Still quite a lot of water running through–more than enough to knock you down and carry you along downstream and over the falls–especially if the rocks were slippery.
I feel sad and freaked out, hearing more details about this.
I don’t like heights, and strong moving water completely unnerves me.
I’m really sad for these kids.
Horrible way to go.
@20 Fuuuuck. I did not need to see that. For some reason I had to watch it a second time, hoping this time they’d make it to shore… From the text accompanying the video, three of five died. RIP
@47 Thanks for sharing that video. It puts the falls into perspective for someone like me who had no idea what they look like. I had imagined a bigger fence, but I had also imagined the water not being such an obvious death trap- How anyone could think its a good idea to cross is beyond me. And yeah, I held out hope when reading the story that maybe some of them might have survived and are somewhere downstream… but seeing those jagged rocks below, I now know that possibility is next to zero.
Upon further review, the falls are just over 31 stories high. Yup, they’re all dead.
Okay. This just in with the morning news. Per the eyewitnesses they climbed the railing just 25′ from the drop. Unbelieveable. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cg…
Sounds like they were horsing around a bit at the brink.
@59 – I assumed this was a group of rowdy college kids, but in fact it was a church outing led by a priest. I would hope the priest would express remorse for his bad judgement in accompanying them in swimming in the Emerald Pool. Yikes. I’ve definitely gone swimming in clearly marked “no swimming” areas; I’m definitely going to rethink that in the future.
These young adults died tragically, but kudos for them to have the balls to just jump in and rescue one another. I don’t think it was wise, but if I saw a loved one struggling in the water my first thought would be: “JUMP IN AND SAVE THEM!” Of course my second thought would immediately be “No, you’ll drowned too!” Some people just go on instinct in adverse situations.
One point about the story that is the MOST tragic…..if it were me being swept away and I looked up to see people standing around praying instead of running around looking for a ranger, calling 911, or signaling The Goddamn Batman, my last words would be “I’ll see you assholes in hell!”
RIP the three young hikers.
@30 has a point. It seems what they did was unequivocally foolish. I initially thought that a barrier with graphic warnings should prevent that. Evidently, it doesn’t work. The placing of a modest barrier, one that people might have a tendency to walk by vs. noticing a more ostentatious one, one that people might say is a dare and proceed to breech the barrier apparently doesn’t make too much of a difference. It certainly doesn’t for the families of the deceased. My point is using psychology to see what works the best at preventing these horrors may be still futile. Though, I suppose there may be other ways at diminishing the number of accidents. Whatever the case, good judgment needs to exercised at all times by the hikers. I’ve been to Yosemite and I’ve tread carefully. At the end of the day, it’s a damned if you do, damned if you don’t proposition for the National Park Service. The most sophisticated signage didn’t prevent this tragedy.
We must know our limitations.
Actually totally thinkable. It’s of course sad when anyone dies, but the flip side of that is WTF did you expect? I love posting the obvious on blogs.
59
The attitude of ‘this is what you get when you break the rules’ is NOT callous.
It is a cold hard fact of life.
Engage in dangerous irresponsible behavior and folks get hurt.
sometimes innocent folks…..
@61 That link to the warning sign was garbled for some reason. Just noticed that. Here’s a better link: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Emerald_poolwarningsign.JPG“>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Emeral…
The railing is visible in the lower left. According to the article cited above, they climbed the railing 25′ from that lower corner.
Here is a reader’s comment from a SF Chronicle article this morning.
“I’ve been to the top of Vernal many times, including in my teens and early 20s. Even at that age, when you feel immortal, I KNOW that standing at that railing fills you with awe and fear at the river’s might and the sheerness of the drop. You see the water hurling itself over the edge, and instinctively know in your bones, Wow, if that were me, that’s five seconds to death. I just don’t understand what would possess a person to think s/he could safely hop the railing and wade right upstream of the falls. Even if there were no guardrail, and no bystanders yelling at you to stop (and in this case there were both), you would have to lack fundamental common sense to do such a thing.
Those kids didn’t stop to register or respect the power of nature. They paid with their lives… and they also shattered their families’ lives. Whatever you think of them, feel for their families.”
59, I’ve been to that area. It’s a back country area, which really just means you can’t see it from the road, but it’s only about 100 yards over a small hill. The springs are literally boiling hot.( Water boils at 199 degrees at that altitude.) The springs runoff into the Firehole river, which is normally about 55 degrees even at the height of summer, but the hot springs warm it up to about 80 in that area. There’s also a small grassy island that divides the river, and at some point in the distant past, someone lined up rocks to block some of the river water from the side closest to the hot springs. You can make it the water warmer or cooler by moving some of the rocks. It’s about the same temp as a hot tub. It’s not against the rules to swim there, but you do have to mind the hot springs. I was there for several hours, and didn’t see another person.
The kids stayed until after dark, and it was a moonless night. Dark in Yellowstone means you cannot see your hand in front of your face. None of the five brought a flashlight. Thinking they were jumping over the runoff of the hot spring, three of the party (two guys and a girl actually jumped in the spring itself. Only the girl died; the two guys actually tried to sue the National Park Service.
The park service makes very clear is that Yellowstone is a wild and dangerous place. Yet people act like they are at Disneyland. There’s a good book called Death in Yellowstone, which chronicles some of the dumb things people do, like one guy who dove head first into a boiling hot spring trying to save a dog. People begged him not to go in, but he yelled “Like hell I won’t!” Both he and the Dog died.
Wikipedia link keeps breaking. It worked in the preview. Oh well… Maybe you can get if from the main article. If not, sorry. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerald_Poo…
I’m not sure “victim” is the right word here. This is a terrible thing and all, but these people made autonomous choices and were in no way victimized.
You know, when people die a terrifying death and their families are devastated, I think they’ve paid the price for any foolishness. No need to be cruel.
Reminds me of the story from a few years back when three teens taunted a tiger at the San Francisco zoo, dangling their legs into her enclosure, and the tiger did what tigers do when pissed off.
Humans are puny and should not fuck with forces mightier than themselves. We managed to take over the planet due to intelligent tool use, not our prowess as a species.
So, while I feel horrible for the families in both cases, I have very little sympathy for the victims. (Felt much worse for the tiger who ended up being put to sleep for acting like a tiger. I understand why they had to do it once she’d tasted human blood, but the whole debacle wasn’t her fault.)
These three young men were old enough to know better, even without the warning sign. They thought they were cleverer than the people who run the park, they thought they were stronger than the current… Well, they were wrong.
@52 — I gotta admit it’s possible I’m thinking of a different waterfall/swimming hole at Yosemite. I haven’t been there since the early 1990s. In my memory there was a barrier between where you could swim and where the water picked up speed, leading eventually to the waterfall, but maybe that’s not the barrier in question here. That barrier depicted is rather spindly.
At least it was a quick death. Unfortunately, the families of the victims and the hikers who witnessed their deaths will live with this for the rest of their lives.
It’s shocking how little people seem to understand about the power of currents. I was walking along the waterfront in Leavenworth a couple days ago and multiple times I saw tourists playing fetch with their dogs in the Wenatchee river, which is running very high and fast right now. It was terrifying watching them struggle against the current while the perplexed owners just called for their dogs louder. I wonder how many dogs disappear in that river every summer due to careless owners.
@ 76 – I hear you. Felt the same way about the ‘tiger kids,’ mostly because all the evidence (see the wikipedia article on this) pointed to a deliberate attempt on their part to inflict misery on the animal. She then proceeded to kill one of them and was finishing off the other two when shot and killed. The survivors defied cooperation with the police and just generally continued to be scumbags.
The waterfall incident seems a little different to me. I don’t think these young people were trying to do something spiteful or inflict pain on another living thing. They certainly were reckless and took some dumb chances and ended up dying for it. But it doesn’t look like cruelty played a role, and that allows me to feel real sympathy for their suffering and that of their families. It costs me nothing to feel bad for them.
people — ESPECIALLY young people — who exhibit bad judgment should be treated with utter contempt because bad judgement is morally wrong.
@78 – THAT really chaps my hide. Innocent animals, sent to drown by their idiot owners.
I know people need to feel like they have life by the balls and have it all figured out. And that only stupid people have things like this happen to them. But I just want to remind you that statistics are not on your side. Chances are you, or your kids, will have an ironic death.
Chances are sound that a healthy percentage of the people gloating over this tragedy will one day have their words come back to haunt them.
But not me. I’m a genius. And immortal.
@47 I can’t believe THAT was the barrier that they climbed over. That’s not what I was picturing at all! I was super sympathetic and was a little irritated at some of the comments here but my sympathy just waned quite a bit. That’s not the equivalent of driving your 20 mph over the speed limit, it’s the equivalent of driving 100 mph over the speed limit after you finished drinking a bottle of whisky or playing 5 chamber russian roulette. It totally sucks that they died but fucking christ people, you’ve got to show some common sense! There’s very few things I can think of that would be less fool hardy than hopping that barrier and getting in the water.
@ 15 Couldn’t agree more! Fear-mongers and media hype make it seem like everything is going to kill you: your tap water, the sun, your vitamins, your hair products, your soap, your shampoo, your cell phone, your commute, your friends, your boyfriend, your priest. We’ve become a society of hand-wringing losers, afraid of every stupid statistically unlikely story on the news.
I recently saw a news story that sitting too much during the day will possibly cause a deadly blood clot over time. It’s like- yeah…um I know that I’m gonna die someday-ok? So now you’re telling me that if it’s not the cigs I smoked in my 20’s it might be just you know….sitting. for too long. on a daily basis. riiiiiiiight.
As amped up as people are about every stupid fucking thing that has a less than .00002% chance it might kill you- it’s no wonder that these kids today are conditioned not to recognize serious danger when they see it. Growing up in a police-state nanny society where we warn them about things that most likely never happen and then try to control every move they make- these kids learn to tune out alarmist warnings, so they don’t know when the warning is real or fake. Nanny state warned them that sitting too long and tap water would kill them, so when they see real danger warnings, they have no idea what it means. All that crying wolf from the government over bullshit that almost never happens has made them unable to tell the difference between real or fake dangers.
@30 – It’s been years, so my memory may be faulty, but I recall the sign saying “PEOPLE HAVE FALLEN TO THEIR DEATH HERE.” According to my sister (the college professor) human reasoning ability does not become mature till the mid-20’s. Which is why crime and car crashes are disproportionately high for people in their early 20’s. A 21-year-old may read a sign and comprehend its meaning but not make the connection that “this applies to me” because that circuit in the brain has not matured.
+1 to Irena @23. It’s way too easy for all the learned authorities of blog comment sections to get all smug; your tsk-tsking is mostly to make you feel better about yourself and engage in a bit of mental reassurance that you’re not the sort of moron _that_ would happen to. The truth is that plenty, possibly even most, of you have done something similarly stupid and dangerous in your lifetime, and were just luckier.