After Nearly a Dozen Rescues at a Popular Swimming Hole, Linn County Deputies Urge Caution

Last weekend, a 19-year-old also died while trying to summit Three Fingered Jack.

Tamolitch Falls, aka Blue Pool

After 10 rescue requests in just the past few months, including last weekend, the Linn County Sheriff's Office is asking recreationalists to take precautions when visiting Tamolitch Falls.

Multiple agencies responded to the remote attraction, which is more than 50 miles east of Sweet Home, Ore., on Sunday, July 19, after receiving a request for a possible water rescue.

Deputies say 28-year-old Pavan Vemuleti was jumping off the cliff-rimmed basin, also known as Blue Pool, and did not resurface for several minutes. He was pulled to shore and airlifted to PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center at Riverbend in Springfield, where he was treated and released the next day.

Tamolitch Falls isn't the only site that has seen a flurry of rescues recently. Also on Sunday, 19-year-old Todd Adelman, from Aumsville, died after falling on the mountain known as Three Fingered Jack.

Linn County deputies responded to the peak, where they found the man at the bottom of a cliff—approximately 7,300 feet in elevation—and pronounced him dead at the scene. A witness says Adelman was near the summit, which is considered an advanced mountaineering climb with treacherous rock conditions, when he fell. Responders worked all night carrying him out.

As the states emerges from chillier June temperatures and into July's heat, sheriff's offices, medics and mountain rescue teams are urging people to be prepared for emergency situations when hiking, swimming and climbing, particularly in hard-to-access areas with no cellphone services.

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