Oregon Hikers

A 20-year-old man died Tuesday after falling 70 feet from a waterfall on the Eagle Creek Trail, west of Cascade Locks, the Hood River County Sheriff's Office said.

Francesco Goncalves of Eastchester, N.Y., was hiking with a group of friends, several who witnessed his drop into Punchbowl Falls, said Sheriff Matt English in a news release.

http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-north ... eagle.html

As usual, the comments are a hoot. Most are along these lines of "You gotta stay on the trail, man! It's there for a reason! Stay on the trail and everything will be fine!"
Screw that.
A more sensible comment would be "people should be careful, know their abilities, and select routes that don't expose them to any more risk than is necessary to achieve the sense of adventure they seek". Of course, where's the sanctimonious fun in posting something like that?

Anyway, I was particularly intrigued by this comment:

Matt English stated out of 300 rescues this last year, only two were from his county. Unbelievable.

The commenter is referring to the HRC Sheriff who said between 2013 and 2015, 288 out of 300 SAR incidents were tourists. But what's a tourist? Am I tourist because I cross county lines when I go on crazy stupid off-trail hikes in the gorge? If a soccer mom decides to hike up Larch Mountain in flip flops and a bikini, and nothing else, and gets in trouble, is she a non-tourist?

Yes you are a tourist. No the woman is not a tourist. My rules.