Dead tree saves ‘distracted’ tourist who fell off mountain at night, TN rescuers say

A “distracted” tourist slipped while walking in the dark and found herself hanging desperately from a tree over the edge of a mountain bluff, according to rescuers in east Tennessee.

Spotlights revealed the woman had fallen 25 feet early Oct. 13 when she found something to grab, but was still 50 to 75 feet in the air, according to the Waldens Creek Volunteer Fire Department.

Below her sat a deadly mix of large rocks and trees, Capt. Jon Lanier told McClatchy News. He’s one of the two rescuers who rappelled down to the woman near Waldens Creek, about 8 miles north of Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

“I would say she hung onto that tree about an hour. She was a lot calmer than I expected, but she was very happy to see us,” Lanier said.

“She knew she was safe as long as she held on, but my concern was the tree. It was dead and had fallen over, and could easily have shifted and fallen the rest of the way down the bluff. There was a realistic chance of severe injuries or worse.”

It took the two climbers about 20 minutes to pull the woman up to safety, he said. She appeared to be uninjured and declined to be taken to a hospital, he said. Her identity was not released.

The fall occurred when she “got distracted” while walking along the driveway of a rural cabin the family rented on Sunset Road, he said. Her husband was there and called 911, officials said.

This story was originally published October 16, 2023 at 12:51 PM with the headline "Dead tree saves ‘distracted’ tourist who fell off mountain at night, TN rescuers say."