Camper asleep in hammock dies after tree falls on campsite, Georgia officials say
A man died and another was injured after a tree fell on their campsite in a “remote” hiking area of the North Georgia Mountains, emergency management officials said.
Crews were alerted just before 2:15 a.m. April 5 to a “life-threatening emergency” involving campers near Panther Creek Falls, according to the Fannin County Emergency Management Agency.
The 911 caller said four men were asleep in their hammocks when a tree came down on their campsite, trapping one of them underneath, officials said in an April 6 news release. The injured camper was unresponsive.
Panther Creek Falls is deep in the Cohutta Wilderness of the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest, which spans about 865,000 acres across more than two dozen counties, according to the USDA Forest Service.
“The terrain ... is rugged, marked by steep inclines, dense forest cover, and extremely limited access,” Fannin County EMA said, adding that rescuers had to hike more than 8 miles round-trip, “much of it in the dark,” to reach the injured campers.
It took rescuers just over five hours to reach the campsite, where they found one of the men deceased, officials said. Authorities didn’t identify him pending notification of next of kin.
A second camper had minor injuries and was in stable condition, according to Fannin County EMA.
Both were airlifted to a landing zone where an ambulance and coroner’s unit were waiting, officials said. The injured hiker was then taken to a hospital for treatment.
A father and daughter who had set up camp nearby heard the tree fall and rushed to help the injured campers, according to EMA officials.
They stayed with the group until help arrived and took the two uninjured campers to their car, officials said.
Multiple state and local agencies aided in the “complex” search and rescue, including the Fannin Count Fire Department, Georgia Department of Natural Resources Law Enforcement Division and United States Forest Service Law Enforcement Division.
“Our deepest condolences go out to the family and friends of the young men involved in this tragic and unforeseeable accident,” officials said in a statement.
Fannin County is about a 100-mile drive north from downtown Atlanta.
This story was originally published April 7, 2025 at 1:36 PM.