100-foot fall leaves hiker stranded, barely clinging to cliff, California rescuers say
After a more than 100-foot fall, a hiker “was barely holding on” as they clung to a cliff with hiking poles, California rescuers say.
Two hikers were trekking the Lost Coast area near Big Flat the afternoon of March 22 when one of them fell more than 100 feet, the U.S. Coast Guard Sector Humboldt Bay said in a Facebook post.
The fall left the hiker stranded, clinging to the cliff “with hiking poles 60 feet above another unstable cliff,” rescuers said.
The other hiker, who was not hurt, was stuck above because of the cliff, rescuers said.
The agency said it got a call about the fallen hiker with a dislocated shoulder and other injuries in need of rescue just before 3 p.m.
The helicopter crew spotted “both hikers along the steep cliff edge,” according to rescuers.
Rescuers said they quickly came up with a plan and rescued the fallen hiker from the cliff via a 160-foot hoist.
The crew flew the hiker to awaiting rescuers to be medically assessed, the agency said.
Afterward, the rescue crew flew back, extracted the second hiker from the cliff and landed at Shelter Cove, according to the agency.
“With deteriorating weather to the north and only 15 minutes of fuel remaining, the crew was forced to shut down at the airport in Shelter Cove,” rescuers said.
Then, CalFire members drove “four hours round trip down the winding road to Shelter Cove” to provide rescuers with gasoline.
After fueling up, the crew started its flight back home at about 7 p.m., rescuers said.
Lost Coast is in Humboldt and Mendocino counties, about a 300-mile drive northwest from Sacramento.
This story was originally published March 24, 2025 at 11:41 AM with the headline "100-foot fall leaves hiker stranded, barely clinging to cliff, California rescuers say."
