Linn County Undersheriff Jim Yon reports on Saturday, July 29, his deputies responded to a rescue at Tamolitch Falls(Blue Pool), off of Highway 126, near Trail Bridge.
Mikala Marquis, 19, of Eugene, lost her footing while hiking along a trail above Blue Pool and tumbled approximately eighty feet down a steep embankment through brush. She sustained non-life threatening injuries and was transported to Riverbend Hospital in Eugene.
Personnel from Upper McKenzie River Fire Department, Sweet Home Fire Department, U.S. Forest Service, Lane County Search and Rescue, Eugene Mountain Rescue, Corvallis Mountain Rescue, Springfield Fire Rescue, Oregon State Police and the Linn County Search and Rescue assisted with the rescue.
Calls for service have increased dramatically this year at Blue Pool. We would like to remind anyone hiking at Blue Pool to use extreme caution when hiking. Please do not jump from the rocks into the water. We have had several serious injuries already this year from people attempting to jump into the water.
The Sheriff’s Office also responded to Clear Lake Resort on Highway 126, for a missing person in the early morning hours of Sunday, July 30. Nallely Orozco-Mendoza, 19, of Pasco, Washington, went missing from her lakeside cabin.
Orozco-Mendoza and her boyfriend had an argument the previous evening and she walked into the woods to cool down. After walking an unknown distance into the woods, she determined it was too dark to attempt to find her way back to the cabin.
In the meantime, several deputies and three Linn County Search and Rescue team members responded to the area and began to search for her. After spending the night in the woods, Orozco-Mendoza came back to camp at daylight.