An Oregon man looking to take a picture high above the ground at Devil’s Cauldron Trail in Oswald West State Park fell to his death on Sunday after a tree branch snapped, sending the man down 100 feet into the ocean.
Steven Gastelum, 43, was hiking with another person along the trail on the Oregon coast when he crossed over into an area that reportedly warned visitors to stay away from the edge. When Gastelum climbed the tree on the cliff’s edge to pose for a picture, the branch broke, and he plummeted to his death.
Soon after, emergency personnel was called for reports of a man falling off the edge of a cliff around 1:48 p.m. The Coast Guard and officials with the Nehalem Bay Fire Department on jet skis located Gastelum in the body of water and brought him to shore. He was rushed to the hospital where he was pronounced dead, according to authorities.
Gastelum death comes three years after another hiker passed away along the same trail in Oswald West State Park, Daily Mail says.
Joe Lescene, 51, was hiking with his wife Sarah in the park in September 2017, when he lost his footing on the cliff’s edge, overseeing Devil’s Cauldron, and fell more than 780 feet into the ocean.
The US Coast Guard, Oregon State Police, and four groups of local emergency responders attempted to find him for almost a week before the search was called off.
His body washed up on a beach on September 20, 10 days after he went missing.
The Devil’s Cauldron, which provides a viewing point at the end of the trail, is known as a popular location for tourism, hiking, walking, and bird watching.
