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Ohnivy-Drak
Wonder how many people witnessed the fall. Someone must have in order to report it.
The article says that they "...
appeared to have fallen from Taft Point..." That sounds more like the discovery of the bodies was reported rather than the fall itself being witnessed.
It's got to be traumatic for anybody witnessing such a fall or finding the bodies after the fall. A few years ago, we arrived in the park for a week-long visit and, after checking into our condo in Yosemite West, we headed out for a late afternoon view from Glacier Point. We were surprised (and a bit alarmed because we knew what it probably meant) to hear a helicopter as we left our car and started heading out to the point. Turns out that very shortly before we got there, somebody had gone over the edge while trying to retrieve a dropped camera. We saw neither the fall nor the body but were pretty shaken by even that encounter.
My wife (and, to a lesser extent, I) have a minor addiction to books like "Death in Yosemite..." not because of any kind of morbid fascination or "gaper" mentality but because it underscores that although some people take a sort of Disneyland (or maybe it's a young-people's-belief-that-nothing-can-happen-to-THEM) understanding of just how dangerous these beautiful places can be, even the most experienced people can make seemingly trivial choices that lead to disaster (I'm reminded of one particular story of some off-duty seasonal rangers who went camping somewhere in the southern part of the park (can't recall where exactly). One of the guys got up to pee in the middle of the night, went a few steps too many off trail, lost his way and was not seen again until his body was discovered several weeks later just a couple of hundred steps from where they'd camped). These stories are powerful reminders to me not only to be extra-careful whenever I feel the slightest instinctual red flag go up but also to remember that, in general, you can never be too careful when you're out in the wilderness (hell, GP is technically not even designated "wilderness" but, in some respects, the warnings go double for places like GP...if for no other reason that the Disneyland/immortality mentality is likely to be all-the-more-prevalent in these areas that are so easily accessible while still being potentially lethal).
Whether you only get out into these environments once a year or are fortunate to be out there every weekend, be careful, my friends...there's a fine line between confronting your fears and taking ill-advised chances!
Deep condolences to the friends and relatives of whoever the Taft Point fatalities are.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/26/2018 07:48PM by DavidK42.
