Fatal fall in Yellowstone National Park

October 1, 2007 Charlotte Harrison, from Beverly Hills, fell to her death while taking pictures at the edge of a steep canyon after she stepped over a low rock wall at a pull out on the Grand Loop Road in Yellowstone National Park.

Rangers were called to the Calcite Springs area, just north of Tower Falls at about 6:30 p.m. on Friday. They could see a woman lying immobile on the canyon floor near the Yellowstone River. Yellowstone fire department and a technical rescue team responded. A ranger rappelled down the steep 500-foot embankment to reach the woman and confirmed that she was dead. Due to darkness, steep terrain, and the complex nature of this type of large scale operation, park staff had to wait until Saturday morning to remove the victim from the canyon floor. An autopsy conducted over the weekend shows the cause of death was massive trauma caused by the fall.

32-year old Harrison and a 39-year-old male friend from Los Angeles were traveling through the park, and had stopped to take pictures at a pullout in the Calcite Springs area just north of Tower Falls when the incident occurred.

This is the second fatal fall at this particular pullout in two years. Harrison slipped off the edge only about four meters from where a woman fell to her death in April 2006.

The incident remains under investigation. Anyone with information they think might help investigators is asked to call the Park Tip Line at 307-344-2132.