Aurora father found dead by hikers on Chaffee County trail

Hikers on a Chaffee County trail earlier this week found an Aurora man dead in a creek, according to the sheriff’s office.

Chaffee County deputies responded at about 4 p.m. Tuesday to reports of a body found on the Agnes Vaille Falls trail off of County Road 162, according to a post on social media from the sheriff’s office.

The hikers told deputies they found the man face down in a creek near the waterfall, about half a mile up the trail, sheriff’s officials said.

The man, 38-year-old Ronald Eugene Stamm of Aurora, had hiked the trail with his wife and daughter, sheriff’s officials said.

After the family arrived at the waterfall, Stamm wanted to keep hiking and his wife and daughter headed back to the trailhead, according to the post.

When deputies arrived, the wife and child were still waiting for Stamm at the trailhead. Sheriff’s officials said they’d only been waiting a short time and didn’t know anything was wrong.

Investigators believe that Stamm tried to climb a cliff face near the waterfall without any safety equipment, lost his grip and fell over 100 feet to the creek below.

Chaffee County Coroner Jeff Graff pronounced Stamm dead at the scene, and a crew with Chaffee County Search and Rescue North was called in to help bring his body back to the trailhead.

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