Tucked along Oregon’s scenic hiking routes is a striking natural pool whose vivid blue water can look inviting — but visitors are warned not to mistake its beauty for safety.
Roughly three miles along the McKenzie River National Recreation Trail, hikers reach Tamolitch Falls, the well-known destination more commonly called the Blue Pool.
The site took shape more than 1,000 years ago, after a lava flow collapsed into a lava tube and left behind its distinctive basin-like form.
Water filtering through the underground lava tubes gives the pool its famously clear, deep-blue appearance, but that same process keeps it dangerously cold — cold enough to trigger hypothermia almost immediately after entering.
On Friday, a university student from Kansas became the latest person to die at the Blue Pool, where at least two other deaths have been reported over the past 13 years. Numerous visitors have also been injured at the site.
Beyond the shockingly low water temperature, the pool’s exceptional clarity can make it hard to judge its depth or accurately spot submerged rocks.
Officials have repeatedly urged visitors not to leap from the surrounding cliffs, some of which rise as high as 60 feet.
Compounding the danger, cell reception in the area is limited, so a medical emergency can leave injured hikers waiting hours before rescuers are able to reach them.
Tamolitch Falls, also known as Blue Pool, is a popular tourist destination in Oregon. The water is still, clear and bright blue, but consistently stays at frigid temperatures
Kenny Truong, 21, a business student at Wichita State University, died on Friday after jumping into the pool
The Blue Pool was formed more than 1,000 years ago by a lava flow. The underground filtration system keeps the water at glacial temperatures
Kenny Truong, 21, was at Tamolitch Falls with friends on Friday when he plunged into the sparkling blue water just before 9pm.
Witnesses who called 911 said he was struggling to swim towards the shore before disappearing under the water. First responders attended the scene, but he did not survive, a spokesman for the Linn County Sheriff’s Office said.
‘Tamolitch Falls is a breathtaking destination visited by people from throughout the Pacific Northwest and beyond,’ the sheriff’s office added.
‘It is also a place that has taken lives before and will take lives again if visitors do not understand what they are facing.’
In 2013, Alex Rovello, a tennis star at the University of Oregon, died on May 11 while cliff jumping with his friends.
The Linn County Sheriff’s office said at the time that the 21-year-old jumped off a 60-foot cliff and was too deep in the frigid waters for bystanders to save him.
Rovello’s family wrote on an online memorial page that he hit his face and chest first, was knocked out and drowned in the frigid water.
Truong, a university student from Kansas, struggled to swim and disappeared underwater after jumping into the pool on Friday
Alex Rovello, a tennis star at the University of Oregon, died after jumping into the Blue Pool in 2013
Rovello was an athletic college student. He won four state singles titles at Cleveland High School and was inducted into their Hall of Fame
The young tennis star’s friends witnessed the horror as one frantically sprinted two miles to find cell phone service and call 911.
‘Alex died at around 1.30pm. The response team recovered his body around midnight,’ Rovello’s father wrote on his memorial page.
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‘A teary-eyed investigator came to our house later that week. After looking at all of the information, including texts and video on Alex’s phone, the report actually gave us some relief. It was a total accident. No foul play. No drugs or alcohol. Nothing.’
Rovello was an athletic college student. He won four state singles titles at Cleveland High School and was inducted into their Hall of Fame before receiving a full-ride scholarship to play at the collegiate level.
Two years after Rovello’s death Joel Jesse Martin, a 52-year-old photographer, was taking pictures of the stunning blue water and fell 45 feet into shallow water, hitting his head. He died at the scene.
Two witnesses, including one who was an emergency responder, had attempted to revive him.
Martin owned a local construction business in central Oregon.
He shared his scenic photography on his Facebook account and had set his cover photo to a picture he took of Crater Lake before his death.
Joel Jesse Martin, 52, died in 2015 while photographing the Blue Pool. Officials said he fell 45 feet into shallow water and hit his head
At least three people have died at Blue Pool since 2013 and countless others have been injured
Authorities in Linn County are frequently called to administer complicated rescues at the Blue Pool, and in addition to the deaths the danger of the site has caused countless injuries.
The Sweet Home Fire District said the US Coast Guard airlifted an injured person in July 2023 and rescued two more individuals two weeks later.
Darren Cross, the McKenzie River district manager for the Willamette National Forest, told The Oregonian at the time that the Blue Pool has created a ‘huge burden’ for local officials.
A swimming ban was proposed but legislation enforcing it was never approved.
‘Once people go there, there’s no way to control what they do. I don’t know that people understand how serious the dangers are,’ Cross said at the time.
‘I’m exasperated by it. I just don’t know what to do.’
The challenge facing authorities has become all the more difficult since social media influencers discovered the enchanting hideaway.
The Blue Pool was featured in a recent Reel shared by a popular fitness page with over 74,000 followers.
Multiple injuries in 2023 prompted officials to consider banning swimming, but legislation was never enacted
The US Coast Guard airlifted an injured person from the Blue Pool in July 2023 and rescued two others two weeks later, according to the local fire department
The influencer warned that temperatures at the pool remain at around 37 degrees Fahrenheit, but many commenters criticized the ethics of posting about swimming there.
‘Posting this like Blue Pool/Tamolitch is safe for swimming is wildly unethical. It is about 34°F year round,’ one comment read.
‘Blue Pool is not for swimming, there are deaths and many rescues that happen yearly because the water is freezing, shallow and unsafe,’ another added.
