I am on my county’s search and rescue team and I absolutely love, “paying it forward” to the trail community in this way. A good percentage of our our rescue efforts, and a large percentage of those with the most substantial consequences, involve waterfalls and people’s choices around them.
Sometimes our patient is lucky enough to only leave the scene with a broken leg, but more often than not the consequence is more permanent. Many end in permanent paralysis, or death from the impact of a fall.
Swift water rescue efforts around waterfalls are some of the most dangerous endeavors search and rescue teams take part in, and we put our own lives at risk to help people in need. One of the most tragic searches I’ve ever taken part in involved the death of a rescuer rappelling down Whitewater Falls. He was looking for the body of a man who died from a fall.
Not one, but two lives and the people who loved these men, were forever altered in the blink of an eye by a preventable accident.
Still not convinced that waterfalls can be incredibly dangerous places? Just Google “waterfall deaths North Carolina” and you’ll find no shortage of linked articles testifying to this claim. A healthy contingency of people who venture into our woods are scared of encountering a black bear, yet harmful encounters are a rarity. What isn’t rare in our region, however, is serious injury and multiple deaths from choices around waterfalls.
Waterfalls are natural features with no predictability in their structure. They are not engineered for safety.
Most of waterfall safety revolves around good ol’ common sense, but if you’d like some suggestions about what that looks like, please consider the following tips the next time you visit one.
Stay on established trails and in observation areas
I don’t know of a single established trail in all of our region that will take you to an unsafe spot around a waterfall. Oftentimes, however, trails that hikers inadvertently create around a waterfall will lead to a sketchy spot. So make sure you stay on official trails and know how to tell the difference or when you’re off of them by learning some basic navigation skills.
Heed posted warning signs about safe areas
Not much to say about this one except respect it. If there is a warning sign about an unsafe area, it’s there for a reason.
Never climb on or around waterfalls
I get it, there’s just something magnetic about waterfalls. Like the siren’s call in The Odyssey, they practically beg us to come closer and scale the sides of the falls, stand under them, etc. But it’s just not worth the risk (not to mention the damage you could potentially do to the vegetation around them, marring the landscape for others who visit the area). Both the unexpected power of water around waterfalls and the slippery footing of surrounding rocks, often lead to disastrous consequences for people.
Water above a waterfall
Far and away, this is one of the most dangerous places around a waterfall. This situation often leads to the most dire of consequences. Swift currents near them are especially dangerous places to be, and it doesn’t take much to slip and be carried over the top before you even realize what happened.
Even if you see others playing in the water and it appears they are safe, conditions in a stream can acutely change with each step you take. Things like shifting or slippery rocks, water flows and depths, and even the movement of underwater debris can quickly put someone in a precarious situation near the edge of a waterfall.
Jumping off waterfalls
An episode of the (well done) Outside Online podcast tells the story of the consequences of jumping into water that appears deep and unobstructed. Just remember that if you take a risk like jumping into a pool of water and things go horribly wrong, like they did in this episode, you’ll be waiting out a rescue team for quite awhile (that goes for any rescue, actually), if you even have the ability to quickly notify authorities about the accident. Depending on the severity of injuries, it could mean the difference between life and death.
Men and Waterfalls
Did you know that 82% of spinal cord injuries happen to men, most between the ages of 16 and 30? I don’t think it’s coincidence that the vast majority of our team’s backcountry rescues with preventable injuries involve young men.
I suppose this will always be the case, and we’re not going to miraculously change the genetics of young men who seem to have a perceived invincibility gene linked to that Y chromosome. We can, however, gently encourage good choices by the guys in our own personal circles, to keep them safe.
It’s a tricky balancing act, I know. I’m a mom to a son in this age bracket; however, I think there are ways to get the point across without sounding preachy. One of the things that I feel has worked with making an impact on my son is listening to the podcast episodes I’ve linked in this post. And an excellent book that gets many of these points across in an eloquent way is Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why (Gonzalez).
You’ve got one precious life, folks. Live it well and be wise with it. No one ever leaves for a hike and says, “I think I’d like to die out there today.” Encourage those you love to make good choices too. Otherwise, by all means, go out there in a responsible fashion and enjoy the bliss and beauty that only water, fueled by nothing more than gravity, can bring to our souls.
Happy trails,
Nancy (Seal Mom)
P.S. Now that you’re ready to visit a waterfall safely, here are a couple of books I recommend that will lead you to some amazing spots.
Waterfalls and Wildflowers in the Southern Appalachians: Thirty Great Hikes, by Timothy Spira
[content-upgrade id=”3163″]