On Saturday, October 10th 2008 Portland Mountain Rescue received a request from Multnomah County Sheriffs Office asking for assistance with a body recovery in the Oneonta Gorge. A 70-year-old hiker had fallen from the overlook below Triple Falls at some point during the day. His dog remained at the scene and the dog's presence prompted an off-duty firefighter to investigate. The firefighter located the man who was still alive, but in very bad shape. Being unable to use his cell phone, he ran to the trailhead to summon help before returning to the injured hiker.

The injured hiker died in the early evening before local EMS personnel could arrive on the scene. It was deemed to be too dangerous to attempt to remove the body at night so the recovery effort was postponed until Saturday, the following morning. PMR, along with Multnomah County and Pacific NW SAR members were able to extract the body by using a series of high-angle raise/lower systems. The deceased was packaged and raised back to the trail for a wheeled litter evacuation.