UPDATED | Man Dies In Fall From Miners Castle Area At Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore

July 25, 2021
A Michigan man died in a fall from Miners Castle at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore/NPS file
A Michigan man died in a fall from near Miners Castle at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore/NPS file

Editor's note: This corrects that the man fell from the upper observation deck area, and not from the actual geologic outcrop.

A young man apparently hoping for a better view of Miners Castle at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in Michigan died in a fall from the area near the upper observation deck that provides a view of the iconic outcrop.

According to a park release, Dominic Rotondi, 21, who was from Novi, Michigan, but recently moved to Lincoln Park, and friends were visiting the lakeshore Saturday evening and went to the area near the upper viewing platform near Miners Castle, a prominent geologic formation. For some reason Rotondi stepped over a fence that runs along the top of the cliff, appeared to lose his footing near the edge, and fell approximately 100 feet to the cliff face below and then into Lake Superior, the release said.

National Park Service rangers and Alger County Sherriff Department personnel responded. Upon arrival, the victim was found in the water below the cliff. He was pronounced dead at the scene. The main cause of death appears to be blunt trauma resulting from a fall of nearly 100 feet, the release said.

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