Recent deaths spark changes at Palouse Falls

Changes are planned at Palouse State Park Falls after two young men died there in separate incidents this spring.

Details are still being worked out, but Washington State Parks is planning new fencing and more signs for the Franklin County park this summer.

"We are not closing off access," said Virginia Painter, spokeswoman for the state agency. "We try to recognize the right to public access."

Washington State Parks must balance that with making sure people are fully aware of the risks they take if they want to venture onto unofficial trails, she said.

But one mom says that's not enough.

Earlier this month, Noble Stoneman, 25, of Colfax, fell to his death from an unofficial trail worn into the ground that takes hikers to the cliffs over Palouse River above the falls.

It was the same place where a hiker, Cade Prophet, 25, of Spokane, fell to his death Memorial Day 2017.

The other death this month was a drowning of a Colville man who made his way on unmarked trails to the water beneath the falls. Isaac Engell, 23, died when he went swimming in the cold, churning water.

Another young man, James Hopkins, 22, of Lake Stevens, drowned while swimming there in May 2016.

The Washington State Parks plan for this summer is to put up temporary fencing from the viewing area for the falls.

The fencing will funnel visitors who leave on the half-mile of official trails to an area with strongly worded information on the danger of going farther.

Dorothy Prophet, Cade Prophet's mother, has called for more warning signs to be posted.

But Ruth Drollinger, Stoneman's mother, wants the park closed and says she will work to make that happen, including filing a legal claim with the state.

"This is a death trap there," she said. "It's not safe."

Washington State Parks has compassion for the families of those who have died, Painter said.

But the agency has no plans to close the park.

"It's the pinnacle landscape of the ice age floods," she said.

People come from around the region, including Idaho and Portland, to see the falls, she said. They are particularly spectacular when spring snow melt fills the Palouse River.

Palouse Falls was named the state waterfall in 2014, a step that has been credited with contributing to the jump from 46,000 visitors a decade ago to 200,000 visitors to the state park last year.

But Painter said that the increase in visitors coincides with the increasing popularity of social media. People share their adventures and photos of the falls, and more people plan visits.

After earlier deaths, Washington State Parks has put up more signs warning of the danger, Painter said.

"Each time we try to sharpen the message," she said.

Signs now warn visitors that, "Travels beyond this point is on potentially hazardous trials. Users assume all risk associated with travel beyond this point. Rescue costs will be at the expense of the injured party."

If hikers venture farther, they see more signs forbidding swimming and warning to stay back from the edge of cliffs with a symbol of a person falling.

To get to areas where people have died or have had to be rescued, they must go past warning signs and in some cases even go over a gate with a sign saying "no river access," Painter said.

The park was conceived as a view area to see the falls, where the Palouse River makes a dramatic 198-foot drop off basalt rock in the desert about 20 miles east of Kahlotus.

Those who go onto unofficial trails "really can't have missed the signs," Painter said.

She estimates there are a couple dozen warning signs, plus information on the park's bulletin board.

"There are more signs at that park than any other," she said.

Yet park officials have seen people walking the unofficial trails in flip flops or with small children.

The trails go above the falls and also allow people to descend to the pool at the base of the falls. They travel along areas near a steep and unforgiving drop-off.

Cliffside trails are not flat along the ground, but tilt toward the water in places. Hikers also walk on loose, slippery rock.

"An expert hiker can make a slip and it has dire consequences," Painter said.

Jake Dorsey contributed to this report.

This story was originally published May 25, 2018 at 5:34 PM with the headline "Recent deaths spark changes at Palouse Falls."