- Harris Levinson was the victim of a “fatal fall” into the North Fork of Lone Pine Creek, California, during a long-planned hiking trip
- Friend Carrie McCarthy wrote in a statement on the online platform Caring Bridge, “We are grateful to know he didn’t suffer.”
- Levinson was 61 and a much-loved teacher with a lengthy career in Washington
A beloved Washington teacher fell 100 feet to his death during a solo backpack trek along the John Muir hiking trail in California last month, according to reports.
Levinson, 61, taught American studies and theater at Vashon High School, Seattle, set out from Whitney Portal in California on June 23 on his way to Yosemite National Park, per the San Francisco Chronicle.
On July 9, the Inyo County Sheriff’s Office was contacted by Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Park concerning a missing hiker, according to a statement from Inyo County Search and Rescue and the Inyo County Sheriff’s Office on Facebook.
The Sherrif’s Office notes that “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.” When that suppoly of food was not collected, a friend alerted authorities who located the teacher’s car. This “initiated a search using helicopters from the California Highway Patrol Office of Air Operations and Inyo National Forest, and ground searchers from Inyo County Search and Rescue,” the Sherrif’s Office report adds.
“Aided by data from Mr. Levinson’s satellite messaging device, ground searchers located the body of Mr. Levinson in the North Fork of Lone Pine Creek, apparently the victim of a fatal fall,” the statement continues.
The experienced hiker had fallen nearly 100 feet into a gully just two miles into the nearly 140-mile trek. His body was recovered on July 12, according to SFGate. Bill Jarcho, a friend, confirmed his death to the local news outlet Vashon-Maury Island Beachcomber.
Jarcho recounted to the outlet that he saw Levinson the night before he left town. “When we said goodbye, Harris said, in both a joking and not-joking way, ‘If I don’t come back, you know that I’ve had a fantastic life and I have no regrets.’ ”
Friend Carrie McCarthy wrote in a statement on the online platform Caring Bridge, “It is clear that he died upon impact. We are grateful to know he didn’t suffer.”
McCarthy said Levinson, who was an experienced hiker, was aware of the danger involved in the treacherous trail.
“Harris had been planning this trip for months and was thrilled and excited to begin,” she wrote on the platform. “Folks who connected with him in his final days report that he was joyful, eager, friendly and full of appreciation for his life and the opportunity to go on this adventure. In other words, he was Harris.”
The Inyo County Sheriff’s Office and Inyo County Search and Rescue also extended their “sincere condolences to Mr. Levinson’s family and friends” in their statement. They also thanked Sequoia-Kings National Park, Inyo National Forest, and the California Highway Patrol Office of Air Operations for their cooperation and assistance.
The Beachcomber reports that Levinson relocated from Seattle to Vashon Island, Wash. in the 1990s. A Vashon High School teacher from 1997-2017, he taught American studies, Spanish, and theater and served as an advisor to the school’s Amnesty International club.
“He saw each class as a family — one coherent unit that was fueled by friendship and trust,” wrote former student Alden Hinden-Stevenson, in a tribute published in Vashon High School’s newspaper, the Riptide when Levinson left, per the Beachcomber.
“Even people who weren’t the closest of friends could have a unique, shared experience in his class. In other words, it was the interactions that counted the most.”