Hiker, 25, Plunges to His Death from Dangerous Hawaii Trail

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Nathan Stowell, 25, died on Sunday after falling 400 feet off a hiking trail of Hawaii's Mount Olomana.  (Facebook/Nathan Stowell)

A man who was hiking Hawaii's Olomana Trail reportedly plummeted hundreds of feet to his death on Sunday after he tried to grab his hat, marking the fourth death linked to the dangerous trail since 2011.

A co-worker identified the victim as Nathan Stowell, 25.

Stowell's body was found roughly 400 feet below the third peak of Mount Olomana's hiking trail, officials said.  (iStock)

The victim plummeted off Mount Olomana's third peak, near Kailua, around 10:50 a.m., Hawaii News Now reported, citing the Honolulu Fire Department.

Firefighters had to comb through a wooded area and ask a hiker to shake a tree before they found the body just after noon, Fire Captain Kevin Mokulehua said.

Stowell's body was found roughly 400 feet below the hiking trail, where he was pronounced dead.

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The Olomana Trail is strenuous -- a 4.5-mile rocky path spread across three different mountainous peaks, according to SummitPost.org.

While the first peak is the "highest and offers the best views," it's the mountain's third peak — where Stowell fell to his death — that "offers the greatest climbing challenge."

Hikers told KHON the trail was muddy from rain this past weekend. One hiker, Dale Yoshuizu, told the station that while he'd done the hike "a lot of times ... it makes you aware that no matter how many times you've done the hike you need to be careful."

Barney Griggs, a spokesperson for the Hawaiian Trail and Mountain Club, said anyone who wants to hike the Olomana Trail "should be an experienced hiker."

"You need to have a certain amount of physical conditioning, because you are climbing almost the entire time," Griggs told Hawaii News Now. "Novices have no business being on that hike."

James Keener, of Hawaii Fresh Farms where Stowell worked, according to his Facebook page, wrote that the 25-year-old was like a son to him and "died the way he lived, taking chances, and living every day to its fullest."

In 2015, a man from Florida man died after falling about 200 feet from the trail. An off-duty firefighter died in 2014 and a social worker died in 2011, both from falling off the trail.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Nicole Darrah covers breaking and trending news for FoxNews.com. Follow her on Twitter @nicoledarrah.

Source: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/04/02/hiker-25-plunges-to-his-death-from-dangerous-hawaii-trail.html

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