Bodies Found After Couple Falls Thousand Feet Off Yosemite Cliff

Taft Point in Yosemite National Park, California. Jesse Gardner/Unsplash

A couple has reportedly fallen to their deaths from a popular viewing spot in Yosemite National Park in Northern California.

On Oct. 25, park rangers announced they were taking steps to retrieve the bodies of the hikers at the bottom of a 1,000-foot cliff overlooking Yosemite Valley and El Capitan in the Sierra Nevada mountains.

The National Park Service issued a statement about the incident on its website.

“A male and female visitor died in an apparent fall from Taft Point in Yosemite National Park. Yosemite National Park Rangers are recovering the bodies this morning,” read the statement.

“This incident is under investigation and no further details are available. No photos or videos are available. The identification of the deceased has not yet been determined.”

Taft Point has only a small railing at the peak of the overlook, and visitors are allowed to walk right up to the cliff’s edge on either side.

Another couple was photographed during a marriage proposal near the same spot on Oct. 17.

Park spokesperson Scott Gediman told The Tribune that the bodies of the couple had been spotted by another hiker on Oct. 24. Authorities are looking into exactly what happened, and where and when the two visitors fell off the cliff.

More Heartbreaking Incidents

There have been eight reported deaths at Yosemite in the last six months, according to the Fresno Bee.

Tomer Frankfurter, an 18-year-old from Israel, fell from the top of Nevada Falls in the park in September while trying to take a selfie. The teenager had been on a two-month trip to the United States.

Frankfurter fell hundreds of feet to his death. His body was sent back to his family in Jerusalem.

Two missing hikers were found dead in August: 48-year-old Scott Tenczar, an experienced hiker, and John Cogdellhas, a National Parks Service employee.

In June, rock climbers 42-year-old Tim Klien from Palmdale, California, and 46-year-old Jason Wells from Boulder, Colorado, fell and died while scaling the vertical granite cliffs of the rock formation known as El Capitan.

Ashish Penugonda also died in May while climbing the 400-ft cable section of Half Dome. The 29-year-old hiker from New Jersey reportedly slipped on the smooth granite rock during a thunderstorm.

The park service offers tips on the website on how to stay safe.

“Over 800 miles of trails traverse Yosemite National Park,” states the National Park Service on its website. “Each year, park rangers, and search and rescue personnel respond to approximately 250 emergency incidents in the park.”