Body found in Columbia River Gorge days after woman dies in waterfall, Oregon cops say

A body was found at the bottom of a cliff in Columbia River Gorge days after a woman died in a waterfall, Oregon deputies said.

A person was found dead on Angel’s Rest Trail on Wednesday, Aug. 24, the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office said. A hiker reported spotting the body at about 2 p.m., deputies told KATU.

“The area where the person is located is difficult to reach and Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue has been activated to recover the body,” deputies said on Twitter.

Officials do not know how long the body had been in the area, Brian Gerkman, Multnomah County search and rescue coordinator, told KOIN.

Rescuers found the body over 2 miles from the trailhead, according to The Oregonian. The location, however, is difficult to reach, KPTV reported.

“It’s going to be very rocky, steep terrain, with thick brush,” Gerkman told KOIN. ”It will be a very tough extraction.”

Days earlier, a woman plunged 100 feet to her death in Columbia River Gorge while hiking with friends, McClatchy News reported. She suffered a fatal head injury, and officials pronounced her dead after a 1.3-mile hike from the trailhead.

The Columbia River Gorge is about 20 miles east of Portland.

The gorge is a “spectacular river canyon, 80 miles long and up to 4,000 feet deep,” the U.S. Forest Service said.

Multnomah Falls, another waterfall in the gorge, is the most-visited natural recreation site in the Pacific Northwest, with more than 2 million visitors annually.

This story was originally published August 25, 2022 at 11:03 AM with the headline "Body found in Columbia River Gorge days after woman dies in waterfall, Oregon cops say."