18-year-old slips on rocks and falls to his death over WA waterfall, rangers say
UPDATE: Recovery efforts for the man’s body have been paused due to unsafe conditions, the National Park Service said June 17. He fell over a week ago.
The original story is below.
An 18-year-old slipped on rocks and fell to his death over a popular 50-foot waterfall in Washington, officials said.
Witnesses saw the man go over the Sol Duc Falls June 8 in the Olympic National Park, the National Park Service said in a news release.
Before that, he was seen walking across slippery rocks at the top of the waterfall when he lost his footing and fell, park rangers said.
He was then seen at the bottom of the falls before vanishing in the water, rangers said.
Search teams quickly spread out to find him, looking on riverbanks upstream and using thermal imaging to look in the water, officials said.
A body was spotted the next day “completely submerged” and “pinned between the first and second falls,” rangers said.
The tourist attraction has been closed off to the public while rangers recover the body.
The hike to Sol Duc Falls is 1.6 miles round trip with an elevation gain of about 200 feet, according to Washington Trails Association. “Depending on water volume, Sol Duc Falls splits into as many as four channels as it cascades 48 feet into a narrow, rocky canyon,” the association says.
This story was originally published June 11, 2025 at 10:00 AM with the headline "18-year-old slips on rocks and falls to his death over WA waterfall, rangers say."
