Davis Zinsenheim loved the outdoors.
His Facebook page is flooded with photos of him snowboarding, on mountain tops and rock climbing.
It may be fitting, Zinsenheim, 22, lived his last moments atop a waterfall trying to save his best friend’s life.
Zinsenheim and friend Joesph Harper Hopkins, 23, died after slipping down Little Deep Ford Falls in North Carolina, the first deaths the falls have had in 30 years, officials said.
The two men were exploring the 150-foot waterfall Tuesday evening, which sits on a friend’s property, Chief Deputy Eddie Gunter of the Transylvania County Sheriff’s Office said.
Little Deep Ford Falls sits in the Lake Toxaway Estates in North Carolina’s Transylvania County, 167 miles from Atlanta.
The men were on the on the waterfall when Hopkins slipped and landed on a ledge 50 feet down, Lake Toxaway Fire Rescue Chief Carmon West said. Zinsenheim climbed down to rescue him, but slipped and fell to his death.
It took officials about two hours to rescue the Hopkins, who was still alive, and retrieve Zinsenheim’s body, West said.
Hopkins died Wednesday morning at the Greenville Memorial Hospital.
The two Pope High School graduates were the best of friends, Steve Zinsenheim, Davis’ father, told Channel 2 Action News.
“We’re devastated,” Steven Zinsenheim said. “At the same time, we don’t think it’s hit us yet.”
While there are signs posted at public waterfalls warning sightseers not to climb the falls, West said there’s only so much public awareness they can give visitors.
“Transylvania County is the land of waterfalls,” West said. “You cannot see the beauty of the waterfalls from the top. You see it from the bottom.”
