One More Time: Safety On the Coast (Tillamook: home, high school)

[Larry Caldwell]

Once again, the Oregon Coast is not a theme park constructed by safety engineers. Parts of it are very dangerous.

16-year old boy dies from fall at Cape Kiwanda - Home - Tillamook Headlight-Herald

[Silverfall]

He was a high school student here at Sprague. They had a vigil for him last night.

[scottinpdx]

People are always climbing over the saftey fences at the coast. Sadly, stories like this won't stop people.

[texasdiver]

That kind of thing happens all the time in Alaska. Tourists walk off cruise ships and think they are in a theme park. They get lost in some ravine or fall off some cliff and find themselves out of cell range to call for help. Their bodies usually aren't even found until hunting season if even then.

Then there are the tourists who walk way out and get stuck on the mudflats of the Turnagain Arm in Cook Inlet which has mean tidal range of 30'. Ugly way to die when the tide comes roaring in and covers you with 30' of water.

[karlsch]

The coast is Oregon's #1 tourist destination.

The number of people who die is statistically insignificant.

Some would have had accidents if they had stayed home.

[Larry Caldwell]

Originally Posted by karlsch

The coast is Oregon's #1 tourist destination.

The number of people who die is statistically insignificant.

Some would have had accidents if they had stayed home.

Yes, and people die on the highway getting there all the time. It just makes me sad when people die from no other reasons than ignorance and poor judgment. Non-natives read this forum all the time, and need to realize that the coast is NOT a safe place. Many of the cliffs are unstable sandstone or shale. If you start slipping, you may not stop until you hit the bottom. The water itself is dangerous. While storm watching is fun, you want to do it from a safe vantage point well away from the water.

I have lived here all my life, and have lost two friends and the daughter of a co-worker. Their bodies were never found.

Beach Safety

Be safe out there.

[KaaBoom]

I was thinking of this thread the other day when I was at the coast. A family of four walked up to the edge of the cliff. The father gave the little girl a pair of binoculars, for her to look down with. He then walked away. The girls mother was standing about 10 feet away, with her son. The mother watching the daughter looking through the binoculars, starts telling the girl to get closer to the edge. The girl really didn't want to get any closer, but the mother kept making her get closer and closer. Why would a parent want to encourage their child to stand on the edge of a cliff while looking through binoculars? I seriously had the feeling that the mother was trying to kill the girl.

[Metlakatla]

Originally Posted by texasdiver

That kind of thing happens all the time in Alaska. Tourists walk off cruise ships and think they are in a theme park. They get lost in some ravine or fall off some cliff and find themselves out of cell range to call for help. Their bodies usually aren't even found until hunting season if even then.

Then there are the tourists who walk way out and get stuck on the mudflats of the Turnagain Arm in Cook Inlet which has mean tidal range of 30'. Ugly way to die when the tide comes roaring in and covers you with 30' of water.

I'm sorry....but I don't think so. You can't walk off a ship in any of Alaska's port cities and access wilderness in any hurry, and existing wilderness tours are hosted and guided by people who aren't just going to leave tourists lying around in ravines. You'd have to walk miles to make it out of cell range from any of Alaska's cruise docks.

I agree that some of them walk off the ship thinking they're in a theme park, but they're more likely to hit by a car because they aren't paying attention than they are to fall in some ravine or off a cliff.