The second news story on the link below contradicts the first link and is likely the accurate version. From the first story it sounded like the person fell in at the river trail bridge crossing a bit above Emerald Pool and then did the horrific long terrifying plunge over the falls. But this later below the falls version gives me a theory. A modest distance above the main John Muir Trail bridge is a huge boulder that is frequently climbed out to and used by photographers in order to get far enough out into the Merced River to see Vernal Falls above that is otherwise partially blocked by trees.
I remember way back in the early 80s watching a local SF Bay Area photography weekend series where Galen Rowell was a guest on one episode. That was at a time he was not too well known. They ran a video feature showing Galen climbing out to that boulder, setting up his tripod, then taking a picture of Vernal Falls above. It really struck me at the time because the way he confidently scrambled about on that treacherous water splashed slippery boulder next to the turbulent whitewater reminded me of my own such scrambling on that same rock.
Well what happens folks is other less competent people watching from the nearby Mist Trail get the usual idea in their head that standing atop that boulder would be an interesting place to take a mug shot. Like not of the falls but of the person atop the boulder against the whitewater river. Before long it becomes a zoo where several eager wanabees take turns going out onto the boudler for a shot. Of course a few will also take a jittery hand held pic of the falls from that location but that is usually not their main interest. So I'd bet it is THAT boulder where our deceased visitor slipped in.
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0 repliesI remember way back in the early 80s watching a local SF Bay Area photography weekend series where Galen Rowell was a guest on one episode. That was at a time he was not too well known. They ran a video feature showing Galen climbing out to that boulder, setting up his tripod, then taking a picture of Vernal Falls above. It really struck me at the time because the way he confidently scrambled about on that treacherous water splashed slippery boulder next to the turbulent whitewater reminded me of my own such scrambling on that same rock.
Well what happens folks is other less competent people watching from the nearby Mist Trail get the usual idea in their head that standing atop that boulder would be an interesting place to take a mug shot. Like not of the falls but of the person atop the boulder against the whitewater river. Before long it becomes a zoo where several eager wanabees take turns going out onto the boudler for a shot. Of course a few will also take a jittery hand held pic of the falls from that location but that is usually not their main interest. So I'd bet it is THAT boulder where our deceased visitor slipped in.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/state/20070522-1103-ca-brf-sjvalley-yosemite-manmissing.html
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/05/31/BAGFPQ5QM56.DTL
How many of us have climbed out on that slippery boulder?...David