Two hikers in California are lucky to be alive after one of them fell 100 feet down a sheer cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean.
The incident occurred on Saturday, March 22 on a remote stretch of California’s famed Lost Coast Trail, a rugged 53-mile hiking route along the Pacific Coast in Humboldt County. According to a Facebook post published by the U.S. Coast Guard, firefighters in nearby Shelter Cove, California received a call on Saturday afternoon of a stranded hiker on a bluff overlooking the ocean.
Rescuers were dispatched by a boat and jet ski and found one of the hikers “barely holding on” to a vertical cliffside approximately 60 feet above another band of cliffs. The hiker was clinging to the washed out slope with his hiking poles, the update said. He hiker had fallen more than 100 feet down the slope and had suffered a dislocated shoulder and cuts and bruises.
“The hiker was unable to move up or down, making it unsafe for rescuers to access him by land,” the post said.
The fire crews called the local U.S. Coast Guard office requesting help, and the agency sent a rescue helicopter and crew. But the mission to locate and save the hiker was anything but easy. Due to the lack of wind and the limited power of the helicopter, crews had to jettison fuel, position the aircraft above the precipice, and then lower a rescuer 160 feet on a cable.
The hiker was “bleeding and injured” when the rescuer found him, but safety personnel were able to get him aboard the helicopter and transport him to an medical station in the town of Shelter Cove. The helicopter crew then returned and plucked the second hiker from the the top of the cliffs and carried him to safety.
“Both hoists required intense crew coordination due to the loose cliffside, dead trees, and limited power,” the Facebook post said.
Rescuers reminded hikers of the numerous hazards facing them along the Lost Coast Trail. The hazardous trek is a major draw for hikers across California and the United States, as it traverses one of the state’s last remaining stretches of untouched shoreline. The trail boasts views of lush redwood forests, scenic overlooks of the Pacific Ocean, and black sand beaches.
The steep cliffs and crumbling precipices are too treacherous for roads or development. But the dramatic topography also creates hazards for hikers.
Erosion and deadfall often block the trail, and some sections of the hike take trekkers across narrow beaches that are frequently washed over by waves. Hikers must be wary of tides when traversing these sections—at high tide, the ocean simply washes up to the cliffs and prevents anyone from getting across.
In 2022, a rogue “sneaker” wave crashed into the beach and took two hikers out to sea; rescuers eventually saved one but the other drowned. In 2024, a group of teenagers from a nearby summer camp rescued a hiker who they found bloodied and hypothermic along the trail.
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