Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore is one of the nation’s best “hidden” jewels. People venture here to paddle, hike and camp along its rugged, colorful coastline. It’s the perfect destination, until it isn’t. The lakeshore has seen its fair share of recorded deaths since its NPS designation in 1966. The park can be a risky place to be with notoriously rough coastal waters when weather turns, but it wasn’t until 2006 when it saw its first fatal fall. Since then, what truly happened surrounding Juanita Richardson’s death among the cliffs of Pictured rocks has been of fierce speculation. The event tore a family apart, and this story proves the most dangerous risk of all could be sitting right next to you all along.

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Sources NPS, NBC News, Fox2Detroit, NPS Incident Report, US Court of Appeals, Record Eagle, The Oakland Press, Ortman Funeral Home, Nelson Funeral Home, Upper Michigan Source, Thayer-Rock Funeral Home

161: Over the Edge. Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.