Death at Youngs River Falls

Published 10:19 pm Thursday, July 31, 2025

A man died early Monday afternoon at Youngs River Falls, a popular summer recreation site about 10 miles south of Astoria.

Kevin McCarty, 41, was recreating at the site when he lost his life. The Clatsop County Sheriff’s Office, Olney-Walluski Fire & Rescue District and Astoria Fire Department responded to the scene but were unable to locate McCarty in the water.

The Clatsop County Underwater Recovery Team was called in and located McCarty about two hours after he was last seen going underwater.

“My understanding is that he was there with his girlfriend and they were swimming and just trying to have fun,” Clatsop County Sheriff Matt Phillips told The Astorian.

Phillips said the man at one point was a resident of Clatsop County, though it is so far unclear whether he was living at the time of the incident.

The Falls have been the site of several other fatalities and serious injuries in past years. In 2016, an Astoria man died after falling 45 feet and hitting a rock.

Two years prior to that, a Colorado man visiting the site passed similarly, and in 2007 a Seaside teenager nearly lost her life after plummeting an estimated 75 feet into the rock-laden water.

According to the National Park Service, the deepest point of the water is between five to seven feet, and climbing up the waterfall and jumping from the rocks is not permitted.

In a press release, the Clatsop County Sheriff’s Office reminded people “to use caution when recreating near waterfalls and not to jump or dive into waterfall pools due to unseen objects in the water and strong currents.”