A well-loved Washington high school teacher, Harris Levinson, fell to his death while hiking the John Muir Trail. He was 61. The 211-mile John Muir Trail snakes between Mount Whitney and Yosemite National Park in California. The Inyo County Sheriff’s Office says it first heard word about a missing hiker on July 9, after Levinson failed to pick up his food cache. Unfortunately, Levinson fell just a few miles into his solo backpacking trip.
“Mr. Levinson planned to begin his hike on June 23 after putting in a food resupply cache at Onion Valley that he planned to pick up on June 29,” wrote Inyo County Search & Rescue in a Facebook post sharing the sad news. “On July 8, his food cache had not been picked up, prompting a friend of Mr. Levinson to contact Sequoia-Kings NP. [. . .] Aided by data from Mr. Levinson’s satellite messaging device, ground searchers located the body of Mr. Levinson at approximately 9,400 feet in the North Fork of Lone Pine Creek, apparently the victim of a fatal fall.”
Updates From a Family Friend
Carolyn McCarthy, a friend of Levinson’s, provided additional updates on CaringBridge.org with permission from the victim’s family. McCarthy wrote:
“We have just received word from the coroner’s office. I am so sorry to report that Harris was found dead. He fell 100’ off a ledge down into a gully. It is clear that he died on impact. We are grateful to know that he didn’t suffer.”
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Interestingly, McCarthy also notes that Levinson was not on the right trail. He fell from the climber’s route.
“For reasons we don’t fully understand, he was hiking the climber’s route up Mt. Whitney,” she said. “Unlike the main John Muir Trail, this path is treacherous and difficult, and not very well traveled. He died on June 23, his first day of hiking and just a few miles into his solo backpack trip.”
See Inyo County Search & Rescue’s Facebook post about the teacher who died on the John Muir Trail:
Header stock image of John Muir Trail mountain range by Wirestock/Getty Images