Do these people never learn? Another youth on a church trip. Swimming above Nevada Fall:

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/l...,1477514.story

Don't do it.

I don't understand why this keeps happening. Have people no sense? And why go swimming in 50-degree water in the first place?

"In 2011, three young people from a Modesto-area church group were swept over the edge of the 317-foot Vernal Fall after climbing over a metal guardrail."

It's hard to fathom the stupidity.

Survival of the fittest?

Darwin Awards to church groups?

I guess this is just nature protecting the human race from degenerating into permanent stupidity.

One would think that people from a church group would at least follow the rules and posted signs.

Living in Modesto is almost guaranteed to make anyone stupid.

"Living in Modesto is almost guaranteed to make anyone stupid."

Wow really?


The sign at the falls is very specific telling the swimmers that they will die.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rwolf/8722255588/

You can't idiot-proof nature.

It boggles the mind.

People really need to be careful. Even when just walking around on the boulders by the falls. They get very slippery from the water as well.

It does seem stupid, but when I was 19 I thought I was invincible and a lot of people my age ignored RULEs like - Wear a seat belt, don't drink and drive and don't dance on scary place that can break. I did the dancing thing and my knee has never been the same. That was over 25 years ago.
All I can say is all of you should have some respect. This kid was with a church group! I am disgusted by all the comments. SAD to know the world really is a crappy place

"SAD to know the world really is a crappy place..."

That is a bit dramatic, don't you think?

Suzie,

My parents moved to Modesto when I was 10. I left as soon as i was legally able to.

They don't call Modesto the armpit of California for no reason.

Locals would find breaking the law a challenge.

If you possess Marijuana, judges there send you to county jail for one year +. If you repeatedly beat your wife, you get probabtion.

I was in Yosemite several weeks before those three people went over Vernal Falls. Apparently they wanted a better photo op.

In the last month one person went over Vernal and another over Nevada.

Wakewoody -
NO, I don't think it's dramatic. Do you have children or will you someday have children? What if the child has a disability and can't make rational decisions? (Like you, who says. "It boggles the mind."). I am a child psychiatrist, I see a lot of sad things. You should wake up there WOODY.

I was there and watched someone go over Vernal Falls. I will never forget it. This person wanted a photo op and ended up on the rocks below dead.

It is a tragedy, but it doesn't mean the world is a "crappy place."

695...You don't know me from Adam. Please don't tell me what I should or should not do.

The truth is that if people are determined to be stupid you cannot save them from themselves.

It is, of course, sad that he died. But he did it to himself - no matter how many people tried to stop him. At some point - and 19 is long past it - one has to develop a modicum of common sense - or pay the price.

From the OP's article:

Yosemite, which is visited by millions each year, averages 12 to 15 deaths annually, according to park officials.

A sad statistic but obviously not all of them went over waterfalls.

This is wilderness, somewhat tamed, but still wilderness. There are people who have not really been out in a wilderness and don't know what sensible behavior is for a wilderness.

I so frequently see people wearing high-heel shoes and flip-flops during my hikes and it always makes me want to scratch my head and wonder what those people think they're really doing.

I am actually suprised with all those visitors that there aren't more deaths in Yosemite - I have seen people doing absolutely boneheaded things. This isn't to say that every death isn't a tragedy. In fact, the deaths that are easily preventable are all that much more tragic because they are so unnecesary.

Rastaguytoday - very dear friend lives in Modesto and is a business owner. Also very involved both politically and in service organization. She and her partner have a good life there.