August 23, 2021

Temperature: 65 F. Cloud Cover: Sunny. Wind Velocity: Calm/Light.

I was working that morning with the Tidepool Ambassador Program at the north end of the beach, talking with visitors, when a medium sized dog fell off of the cliff near the waterfall. The dog was badly injured, it was bleeding and I'm assuming was injured internally as well. The owner started climbing down the cliff after the dog, and people on the beach surrounded the base of the waterfall yelling for the man to turn around because it was extremely dangerous. Someone offered to carry the dog up to the trail and meet him there, but he ignored everyone and climbed all the way down. He did make it safely, and it was apparent that he used some sort of leash/rope that was permanently attached to the cliffside. Two weeks prior, on August 11th, I was out there in the same location, and watched two climbers scale down the cliff, using that same rope to help themselves down. At that time I mistook it for a tree root, and thought this was an isolated incident as I had never seen anyone climbing down that way before. I am attaching photos of those climbers. However, when the dog fell and I realized there was a permanent rope and not a tree root, it became clear to me that there must be an unofficial trail that people have created for the purpose of climbing down the falls, and the dog and his owners were hiking above when the trail ended abruptly. The owner got his injured dog and went further up the beach away from the crowd, then I noticed his hiking partner climbing down the cliff to join him. I called up to her to please go back and use the trail, she was risking a dangerous fall and she needed to turn around. Fortunately she did, and they left the area.

I emailed Ben Cox, the park ranger, and gave him all of these details. He responded right away that he or one of his crew would be out as soon as possible to assess the trail and remove the rope. He said if the rope removal was too dangerous, he would ask search and rescue to come out to assist.