Officials have identified the man whose body was recovered Saturday from Tallulah Gorge as 39-year-old William Lang Pottle of Brookhaven. Searchers recovered Pottle’s body near the bottom of the canyon after being dispatched to the area for a possible rescue the night before.
Around 9:30 p.m. on Friday, October 29, Georgia Department of Natural Resources game wardens responded to a call regarding a missing hiker at Tallulah Gorge State Park.
“Along with park staff and Rabun County Search and Rescue they completed a hasty search of the gorge rim trails but found no sign of the missing hiker,” says DNR spokesperson Mark McKinnon.
McKinnon says the missing hiker’s vehicle was located in the parking lot of the park’s Interpretive Center.
About an hour-and-a-half into their search Friday, Rabun County SAR used a drone to search down into the gorge. They located a body at the bottom, approximately 150 feet from the top of Overlook 2.
Due to hazardous weather conditions and darkness, recovery operations were suspended until Saturday morning, McKinnon says.
High-angle Search and Rescue teams from Rabun, Habersham, and DNR returned to the gorge around 7 a.m. Saturday. After several hours, they successfully recovered Pottle’s body from the gorge using a system of ropes and pulleys.
Officials still have not commented as to how Pottle ended up in the gorge. The recovery team turned his body over to the Rabun County Coroner’s Office as the investigation continues.
Tallulah Gorge State Park delayed its aesthetic water release and closed some trails while the recovery operation was ongoing. The water was released shortly after Noon Saturday and the park has resumed normal operations.
