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Man dies after falling nearly 200 feet while hiking with family at Oregon's Multnomah Falls


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A 41-year-old man died after falling nearly 200 feet down a trail at Multnomah Falls in Oregon while hiking with his wife and five children, authorities said.

The Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office and the Corbett Fire District responded to a report at around 1:30 p.m. local time at Multnomah Falls – a popular recreation site outside of Portland – after Gerardo Hernandez-Rodriguez “stumbled and fell down an embankment” Saturday, the sheriff's office said in a news release Monday.

“After further investigation, it is estimated that Hernandez fell nearly 200 feet,” the sheriff’s office said in the news release. “It is believed that alcohol impairment was likely a contributing factor in the fall.” 

The sheriff's office said the family – who are from the Portland metro area – hiked about a half mile up the trail when the father fell. Deputies joined a U.S. Forest Service ranger in the search by using a drone used by the Gresham Police Department, while firefighters prepared to rappel from the trail, the sheriff's office said.

"While these efforts were getting underway, a sheriff’s deputy searched the base of the cliff on the south side of Historic Columbia River Highway," the sheriff's office said. "Off the road, directly below where the fall occurred, the deputy located Hernandez. He did not survive the fall."

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Multnomah Falls is Oregon's tallest waterfall

In August 2022, a woman died after falling nearly 100 feet while hiking the Multnomah Falls-Larch Mountain Trail near Oregon's Columbia River Gorge.

Multnomah Falls is Oregon's tallest waterfall and the most popular natural recreation site in the Pacific Northwest. It’s about a 30-minute drive outside of Portland, and it gets about 2 million visitors each year, according to the U.S. Forest Service.

"At 620 feet, Multnomah Falls is the highest waterfall in the Columbia River Gorge," the forest service said on its website.