Woman hiking with husband falls 200 feet to her death off Wyoming cliff

Calli Aust was hiking upward through Steamboat Point in the Bighorn Mountains near Sheridan, Wyoming.

A Wyoming woman on a sunrise hike with her husband plummeted more than 200 feet to her death Tuesday morning, authorities said.

The Sheridan County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement that 28-year-old Calli Aust’s husband called 911 shortly before 6 a.m. to report that she had fallen from Steamboat Point in the Bighorn Mountains. The statement said Aust’s husband was unsure where she was when he called, and could not determine her location due to poor cell service.

Aust’s body was located on the southwest side of Steamboat Point at 7:15 a.m. the same day and was recovered shortly after.

It was not immediately clear why Aust fell, but the sheriff’s office said that there were “no indications of foul play” and her death is being considered accidental.

Bighorn National Forest spokesperson Sara Kirol described Steamboat Point as an abandoned fire lookout with a pipe railing located near the lookout’s concrete footers.

“It is not a safe barrier, but merely a remnant of the lookout tower,” Kirol told The Sheridan Press newspaper, adding that there are no specific safety measures at the place where Aust fell.

“Cliff edges are unstable and there are a lot of loose rocks on the top of these high places,” Kirol told the Press. “Standing or sitting near or on the edge of cliff faces is very risky, no matter the location.”

The Sheridan County Sheriff’s Office is leading the investigation, with assistance from the Wyoming Highway Patrol and Bighorn National Forest Service Law Enforcement. The county coroner’s office is conducting its own investigation.