Large falling rock kills NW teen-age camper

A falling boulder crushed an 18-year-old man while he was camping in Idaho, killing him, deputies said.

Sheldon Medford of Lewiston was found dead after 9:30 p.m. June 7 in Ahsahka, the Clearwater County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post.

Authorities said the boulder fell on Medford about 1 mile down Northfork Drive.

When they got to the area, they found Medford “pinned under a large boulder,” deputies said.

He died at the scene.

Medford was camping and fishing with a friend, The Lewiston Tribune reported.

The falling boulder rolled from above the riverbank, hit his friend on the arm and crushed Medford, who had been fishing, the news outlet reported, citing the sheriff’s office.

“Sheldon and I have had some good memories together like shed hunting, turkey hunting and bear hunting, fishing,” his friend Hunter Brown said in a Facebook post.

“He was a awesome guy always willing to help when you need and help and always willing to do anything,” Brown wrote.

“Sheldon was so much more than just a son and brother; he was a best friend, a partner in crime, an avid outdoorsman, a free spirit and a true source of joy and silliness,” his sister, Ariel Sackett, said on a GoFundMe page.

Ahsahka is about a 255-mile drive north from Boise.