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Hiker dies after falling down 75-foot waterfall in North Carolina

A trail head at Big Bradley Falls cautions hikers, saying that seven people have fallen to their death off side paths at the site since 2000, a local newspaper reports.
Image: A hiker died after plunging down a 75-foot waterfall in North Carolina.
A hiker died after plunging down a 75-foot waterfall in North Carolina.Henderson County Rescue

A hiker died over the weekend after slipping off the top of a notoriously dangerous 75-foot-high waterfall in North Carolina, authorities said.

Aaron Post, 28, of South Carolina, fell Saturday, the Polk County emergency management director and fire marshal, Bobby Arledge, told NBC News.

Post was with a group, and periodic rain on Saturday made the rocks extra slick, The Citizen-Times of Asheville reported.

Henderson County Rescue Service, joined by multiple other rescue crews, was called to extract the hiker from the bottom of the waterfall, the agency said in a Facebook post.

Rescue workers used a helicopter to get Post out of the “rugged” area and take him to an ambulance for transport to a hospital.

Arledge said Post remained conscious for a while after the fall, but died later Saturday night from his injuries.

Big Bradley Falls, which is in western North Carolina about 35 miles south of Asheville, is a risky place to hike, with steep inclines and slippery terrain, according to the site NC Waterfalls.

A trail head at the falls cautions hikers, saying that seven people have fallen to their death off side paths at the site since 2000, according to the Citizen-Times.