Hiker dies after falling from waterfall in Ventura County

A hiker in the Los Padres National Forest fell to his death Tuesday after climbing to the top of a waterfall, officials said.

The man, whose name has not been released, was hiking with three other people in the Rose Valley Falls area of the forest north of Ojai, said Ventura County Fire Department spokesman Capt. Mike Lindbery.

Lindbery said that the man hiked to the top of the falls in the early afternoon, then plunged 55 feet onto rocks at the bottom of the waterfall.

“It’s pretty bad,” Lindbery said. But he added, it’s “definitely not the first time somebody has done this.”

He estimated that there is one fatal fall from the same spot each year.

Lindbery said that reaching the top of the falls requires standing on smooth rocks where the water is flowing.

“There’s not a lot of places to save yourself if you start to slip,” he said.

The man was pronounced dead shortly after paramedics arrived at the scene on Tuesday afternoon, he said.

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