Hiker dies in 200-foot fall near Pratt Lake; companion says his dog saved him from cliff

NORTH BEND, Wash. -- A 31-year-old Shoreline hiker fell about 200 feet off a cliff while hiking near Pratt Lake and died Sunday, the King County Sheriff's Office said Monday. A fellow hiker said his dog had saved him from going over the cliff, too.

The King County Communications Center received a 911 call from a hiker at about 4:30 p.m. Sunday stating that his hiker friend had fallen from a cliff near Pratt Lake and that he had to hike for about to an hour to obtain cellphone reception to call for help, the sheriff's office said.

"The caller wasn't exactly sure where his friend had fallen from but he heard him fall," sheriff's Sgt. Ryan Abbott said. "He tried to look for the missing hiker, could see his backpack at the base of the cliff but not his friend."

King County Search & Rescue found the body of the missing hiker at the bottom of a 200-foot cliff at about 11:58 p.m. Sunday and that it was clear he had died from the fall, Abbott said.

The victim was a 31-year-old man from Shoreline, Abbott said.

"The friend he was with told investigators that the only reason he didn't fall as well was he had his dog with him, who was able to pull him back from the cliff," Abbott said in the news release.