Kalamazoo Man Falls To Death Seeking Photo Of Colorado Waterfall
CREEDE, Colo. (WWJ/AP) - Police say a 22-year-old Michigan man who fell to his death in Rio Grande National Forest in Colorado slipped while trying to photograph a waterfall.
Dylan Michael Jarsma of Kalamazoo, was with his girlfriend around 1 p.m. last Friday, taking photos of North Clear Creek Falls from various angles.
Hinsdale County Sheriff Ron Bruce said Jarsma moved closer to the top of the falls to get a better picture, when he slipped and fell 200 feet to his death. His girlfriend witnessed the whole thing.
"It all just ended so quickly. He was standing right in front of me and then all of a sudden he was just gone," the girlfriend, who asked not to be identified by name, told WOOD-TV.
Jarsma's girlfriend said he was an avid photographer who one day dreamed of being published in National Geographic.
"He was an extremely passionate person and he never did anything half way," she said. "He was willing to get anything to get that photograph that nobody else was willing to risk getting."
Jarsma's girlfriend said the couple was planning to move to Colorado Springs and start their life together.
"He died doing what he loved," she said. "He was on top of a waterfall with a camera in his hands right next to the love of his life. At that moment, there was nothing missing for him."
North Clear Creek Falls, located in Willow Creek Canyon near Creede, is billed as Colorado's most-photographed waterfall.
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