Hiker dies in fall near North Bend

NORTH BEND, Wash. — Chopper 7 was overhead as the King County search and rescue crews headed up the trail to Teneriffe Falls, also known as Kamikaze Falls, part of the Mount Si trail system.

A woman was with a man she met on the hike when they decided to go off the trail up to the falls.

"They got up there," said King County Sheriff's Deputy Peter Linde.  "He described it was kind of a hand over hand, hanging onto roots and climbing, tough climb.  Somewhat partway up, he turned around and looked at her and he watched her slip and fall."

She fell some 100 feet.

"By the time he got down there," he said, "She didn't have any signs of life."

We met Robertson Miller after he climbed Teneriffe.  He says the hike gets particularly difficult where they were off the trail.

He was asked if he could imagine someone falling and getting hurt?

"Oh, yeah, I can imagine that," Miller said. "Yeah, if they tried to climb around the waterfall there's plenty of places, opportunities to fall."

Last Saturday, a military chopper was flown in to rescue a 15-year-old student at Kennedy Catholic High School in Burien who attempted a similar scramble up Haystack Rock on the Mount Si Trail.

He slid 90 feet.  Miraculously, he survived.

Now search crews are bracing for another rescue-filled weekend.

"They (people) do not come prepared," said Deputy Linde. "It is not uncommon at all for people to go on a day hike, carrying no extra gear, wearing short pants, a cotton T-shirt and a pair of tennis shoes.  They go too far, they get lost."

Investigators did not know much about this woman because she didn't have any identification on her.

They believe she is in her 40s or 50s and that she is from out of state.

Cox Media Group