College professor, 75, dies in Mt. Whitney fall

Texas college professor, 75, dies in apparent fall on Mount Whitney

8/2/2014

SEQUOIA NATIONAL PARK, Calif. — California authorities say a community college professor from Texas fell to his death while climbing Mount Whitney.

The National Park Service said Friday that search crews recovered the body of 75-year-old Dawson Johnson from the mountain’s north slope at an elevation of 13,300 feet on Thursday. Johnson, of Redwater, Texas, had been hiking with his wife in Sequoia National Park on Tuesday when he decided to take a solo hike to Mount Whitney, where other hikers reported seeing him on a trail that approaches the summit.

After Johnson failed to return to his campsite by the next morning, his wife contacted park rangers to report him missing.

Texarkana television station KTAL says Johnson was a longtime computer technology instructor at Texarkana College.