A hiker who died after a cliff gave way Saturday at Point Reyes National Seashore was identified Monday as a 58-year-old San Francisco woman.
Nancy Blum was hiking with another person on Bear Valley Trail when the two apparently passed several signs warning visitors about a dangerous fissure that had opened up on a bluff at the Arch Rock overlook, said John Dell’Osso, a spokesman with the National Park Service.
Around 6 p.m., part of the cliff crumbled, sending Blum and the other hiker, who was not identified, tumbling some 70 feet down to the beach below, Dell’Osso said.
People in the area worked to free the hikers who were trapped beneath large rocks and rubble. A Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office helicopter flew Blum to the Bear Valley Ranger Station, where she was pronounced dead, said the Marin County coroner.
The other hiker was airlifted to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.
The sandstone cliffs along the national seashore are notoriously dangerous. The bluffs slowly erode from beneath due to weathering from crashing waves, prompting walls of earth to break off in landslides of rocks and debris.
“The cliffs of Point Reyes are likely to crumble and slide,” a warning posted on the park’s website reads. “Climbing on them or walking near the edge invites catastrophe. Because of falling rocks, walking below cliffs is dangerous.”
Three days before the collapse, several signs were posted along the trail warning visitors about the fissure that was first discovered Wednesday, Dell’Osso said.
Los Altos resident Karen Blasing, who was hiking with her husband and two friends near the cliff, said she saw dozens of people on the bluff Saturday.
“It was clear no one should be on that rock with the huge fissure,” she said. “We stayed back, but many others were unconcerned and dangerously taking chances.”
The Arch Rock Trail has been closed indefinitely due to concern about further crumbling.
“Obviously there is a tragedy and one person didn’t survive, but one person did and hopefully this won’t happen again,” Dell’Osso said.
