Update: Rescue crews help woman who slid off undeveloped Palouse Falls trail

A woman in her 40s was hurt when she slid off an undeveloped trail while hiking around Palouse Falls State Park on Thursday evening.

Emergency crews were called to the park about 4:40 p.m. after someone called 911 to report seeing someone fall, according to dispatch reports.

Crews from the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office, Columbia Basin Dive Rescue and Franklin County Fire District 2 were among those who responded.

At 5:45 p.m. rescuers reported finding the woman with minor injuries. She was then driven to a hospital in a private vehicle.

Details about where and how she fell were not immediately available.

Palouse Falls in north Franklin County was declared Washington’s state waterfall in 2014.

Visitors frequently leave the safety of the fenced overlook to walk down narrow unofficial paths, trying for a closer view of the water cascading down 198 feet.

While beautiful, the falls have proven deadly.

At least four men, all in their 20s, have died at the park since 2016 after following unofficial trails into undeveloped areas.

Two of them fell to their deaths from the rocky cliff sides of the Palouse River above the falls, and two drowned while swimming beneath the falls.

Washington State Parks in 2018 installed blunt signs and additional fencing to help visitors understand that the risk of death at the falls is real.

“Warning — People have died here,” one sign says. “We want you to live — Stay back from cliff edge.”

Earlier this year, in May, rescue teams were called in to help a Walla Walla man after he was hit with a football-sized rock that fell from a cliff. He then fell 20 feet below the lowest trail.

This story was originally published July 8, 2021 at 5:45 PM.