Yellowstone National Park officials are trying to figure out how a 32-year-old woman fell to her death into the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone just north of Tower Falls. The accident was reported Friday night and rangers spent the night in the canyon with the woman's body.
Park officials say Charlotte Harrison, of Beverly Hills, and her companion, a 39-year-old friend from Los Angeles, stopped at the Calcite Springs pullout Friday evening to take pictures of the area. Around 6:30 p.m. that evening rangers were alerted that a woman had fallen into the canyon.
A ranger rappelled 400-500 feet down into the canyon and confirmed that Ms. Harrison was killed from the fall. Due to the fading daylight and the ruggedness of the terrain, rangers stayed in the canyon with the body all night. On Saturday morning a helicopter was used to lift the woman's body out of the canyon.
The incident remains under investigation. Park officials ask that anyone who might have witnessed the fall call rangers at 307-344-2132.
Back in June 2006 this was the site of another fatal fall into the canyon. In that incident, a woman from Michigan stepped over the pullout's rock retaining wall and fell to her death.
Comments
I honestly haven't heard a thing, and I keep track of the news coming out of Yellowstone every single day. I guess the person to contact is Al Nash, the press liaison in Yellowstone - at 307-344-2015.
Jim Macdonald
The Magic of Yellowstone
Yellowstone Newspaper
Jim's Eclectic World
its been a year since this incident. has anyone heard anything about how her family is doing? I was an aquaintane of Charlotte's. I didn't know her very well but I've always wondered how her family is and if there was a memorial service for her.
Charlotte was a very dear old friend of mine and the entire event is horrible. I have not spoken to the family recently, but I have been to visit her grave and like her, it is beautiful. She is definately missed.
These tragic overlook "accidents" always make people wonder about them for years to come, especially when you cannot find any follow-up to the story anywhere. Surely someone has more information available on this. Surely an investigation must have taken place. Or maybe there is only suspicions and therefore no one will respond. Same goes for the Michigan woman. No one there but her husband and the kids stayed back in the car, seems like. Strange. The reason I am saying this is we were at Canyon de Chelley when the same thing happend. Woman went over the edge of one of the overlooks while trying to find her dropped contact lense, supposedly. Husband was wanting his picture taken with the Superintendent while the Rangers were out in the canyon trying to find her body, talked about his time in Vietnam, had his plans already made for the funeral, just having a jolly old time while the body hunt was going on. Made us all wonder, but there wasn't anything anyone could do about it.
I also have read nothing in years of daily covering the news. I can say that that spot is a place where a real accident really could happen. During ski season, it's a scary descent there on that narrow road. At any time of the year, an accident could happen ... or ... . That's no doubt part of the difficulty; you just wonder what came of the investigation. It was mysterious at the start, and then silence ...
Jim Macdonald
The Magic of Yellowstone
Yellowstone Newspaper
Jim's Eclectic World
Its easy to fall in. Most parts don't have rails. I have pics of me and friends playing very close to the edge. If we slipped we would have fell to our death.
[Climbing is allowed in only a few areas of Yellowstone National Park, and the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone is not one of them. It's too dangerous to climb in the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone because the volcanic rock is too brittle.]
Charlotte is buried in Santa Barbara