UTC student who died in Signal Mountain fall ‘loved the outdoors’

signal-hiker-found-dead-loved-the-outdoors

By Ben Benton December 3, 2014 4 min read

Photo Gallery

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David Swanagin captures the changing light of oncoming storms, twilight, cloudless summer days, crisp autumn air and, shown here, blazing sunsets.

To many, crows are a symbol of darkness and danger, but Lissa Hunter finds them inspiring.

David Swanagin is known for his landscapes with vast, luminous skies. He will be showcased in a September exhibit along with Lissa Hunter. Here, he depicts fields of lavender in full bloom.

Map

Signal Point

Rescue crews on the scene at Signal Point where the body of a 20-year-old hiker was found early this morning.

Dalton Downing, a 20-year-old Memphis man, apparently fell at least 80 feet from a bluff on Signal Mountain. The body of Downing, an avid skateboarder, was recovered after firefighters rappelled down the cliff.

Scenic photos of Dalton Downing’s outdoor adventures fill his Instagram page.

Swimming with friends in Suck Creek. Happening upon a possum after dark on the Cumberland Trail. Standing at Signal Mountain’s overlook of the Tennessee River, under a label on the page that reads “back at my second home.”

The 20-year-old UTC student from Memphis was out in his element again this week, hiking alone on the trails in the mountainous terrain below Signal Point.

But the trails were wet and treacherous, and this time something went wrong.

About 5 a.m. Tuesday, after hours of searching, rescuers found Downing’s body at the bottom of a bluff in Signal Mountain’s Signal Point national park.