The 24-year-old who fell about 400 feet while hiking Olomana Trail on Easter Sunday was trying to retrieve a fallen hat, friends said. 
 
 The hiker was identified as Nathan Stowell. 
 
 Stowell fell while from the third peak of Mount Olomana on Sunday morning. 
 
 He was located near the base of the peak at 12:16 p.m., according to Fire Captain Kevin Mokulehua. By the time rescuers reached him, he was unconscious, without a pulse, and not breathing. 
 
 He was pronounced dead at the scene. 
 
 His sister said the family is living a nightmare. 
 
 "I thought it was a sick April Fools’ joke to be honest with you. My baby brother is 24 years old and he's dead," said Lexis Sweeney. 
 
 Sweeney said Stowell was Facetiming with their other sister while he was on the first peak. She says her family is still trying to make sense of his tragic death. 
 
 “My brother died doing what he loved but it was literally a horrific accident," Sweeney said. 
 
 Andrew Compean said he missed a Facetime call from Stowell that morning and still can’t believe he's gone. 
 
 “I'm still kind of in denial. I feel that I'm just going to see him tomorrow, because we had so much planned. He's 24 years old. He had a future and there was a nice place for him in the future with everything that we're doing with the company and he was an intricate part of that. It's just crazy to think that we have to do it without him," Compean said. 
 
 Compean met Stowell five years ago, when Stowell first moved to Hawaii from Arizona. The two worked together at Handy Andy Hawaii and Compean says they were more like brothers. Compean's father, Jim Keener, took Stowell in as a son. 
 
 "A lot of times you hear people say, ‘This one’s special.’ But he really was special and I just want the world to know how special he really was," said Keener. 
 
 The trail on Mount Olomana is not sanctioned by the state. Officials have been trying to stop the spread of online videos luring people to the steep ridges of the Koolau mountain range. 
 
 “I've seen in that there seems to be a spike in either injuries or in this case fatalities. More and more it's in areas that are not managed, not sanctioned, out-of-bounds kind of areas,” said state Parks Administrator Curt Cottrell. 
 
 Stowell’s loved ones say they aren't focusing on how he died, but remembering him for how he lived -- driven to make the world a better place. 
 
 "He definitely impacted my life for the better. He's the person who I set my standards to," said Tony Markham, another coworker who looked to Stowell as a brother. 
 
 Stowell's death serves as a reminder that hikers should know their limits and practice safety while outdoors. 
 
 "You should be an experienced hiker. You need to have a certain amount of physical conditioning, because you are climbing almost the entire time," Barney Griggs, spokesperson for the Hawaiian Trail and Mountain Club said. "Novices have no business being on that hike." 
 
 The Olomana Trail does have a deadly record. 
 
 "I don't want to believe it. I'm still kind of in denial, I feel that I'm just going to see him tomorrow," said Andrew Compean, Stowell's hanai brother. 
 
 In 2015, a Florida visitor died after falling 200 feet while hiking between the first and second peaks. 
 
 Honolulu firefighter Mitch Kai died in 2014 after tumbling 50 feet between the second and third peaks. And in 2011, Ryan Suenaga lost his life after a 150-foot fall between the second and third peaks. 
 
 Stowell's families want to thank everyone for their outpouring of love and support. 
 
 Copyright 2018 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved. 

 A hiker died today after apparently falling hundreds of feet from a dangerous trail in Maunawili. 
 
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 A hiker died today after apparently falling hundreds of feet from a dangerous trail in Maunawili. 
 
 Firefighters responded to a hiker in distress on Olomana Trail at about 10:50 a.m. and were told a hiker in his late 20s fell from the third peak of the trail, said Honolulu Fire Department Capt. Kevin Mokulehua. 
 
 Firefighters searched for the man by helicopter, but were having trouble locating him because of the heavy tree cover, Mokulehua said. 
 
 Firefighters asked a hiker near the body to shake a tree, giving firefighters a general location of the area, then firefighters rappelled down to the ground and reached the hiker at about 12:15 p.m., Mokulehua said. The man was found near the base of the peak, about 400 feet below the hiking trail, without a pulse and not breathing. 
 
 He was taken by helicopter to Maunawili Valley Neighborhood Park and transferred to paramedics. 
 
 An Emergency Medical Services report said he was pronounced dead at the scene. 
 
 Several people have died falling from the trail, which is popular for its impressive views and treacherous ridgelines. 
 
 In June 2015, a 53-year-old Florida man died after he fell about 200 feet off the trail between the first and second peaks. 
 
 Off-duty firefighter Mitchell Kai, 28, died in January 2014 after falling 50 feet while hiking about 100 feet from the summit of the third peak, and social worker Ryan Sue­naga, 44, died April 2011, after falling 150 feet between the second and third peaks. 

 HONOLULU (KHON2) - A 24-year-old man fell hundreds of feet to his death at Olomana Trail Sunday. 
 
 Firefighters had to comb through the trees for about two hours to find him. 
 
 "Where he was found, it was a heavy canopy, meaning it was an area where there are lots of trees, and it was a pretty steep fall that he suffered," Battalion Chief Damien Kahaulelio explained. "Air One conducted an aerial search and we inserted a rescue person who found the patient unconscious, not breathing, and no pulse." 
 
 The Honolulu medical examiner identified him as Nathan Stowell, and said he died from multiple injuries to his head and torso. His manner of death has been classified as an accident. 
 
 Friends and family say Stowell loved life and lived it to the fullest. 
 
 "A true leader with nothing but ambition, heart, drive, and desire," said friend and mentor James Keener. "He was a bright spot in everybody's day. He's a super bright kid." 
 
 Stowell left Arizona at age 18 for the love of Hawaii's outdoor adventures, culture, and people. 
 
 "It's a shame this had to take place, but he loved the outdoors. He loved hiking. He had a bucket list set up with all these different trails," said Keener. 
 
 Keener says Stowell worked for him at a couple of his family-owned businesses. One of them was at Handy Andy Hawaii, which offers jobs to veterans. 
 
 "He was really inspired about helping build this business for veterans to work. Both my boys he considered brothers are veterans. Nathan couldn't serve in the military because he had asthma, so he really wanted to give back and this is the way he felt he could give back," he said. 
 
 Loved ones say Stowell has always put others before himself, which was a characteristic that was followed by tragedy on Olomana. 
 
 "Kid's hat blew off and he told the kid, 'Don't get the hat. Let me get it,' because Nathan felt he had better balance, and he fell 400 feet to his death," said Keener. "He's just an absolute amazing human being. We are just blessed to have him in our lives as long as we had him." 
 
 Keener says Stowell's family is planning to come to Hawaii and have a memorial ceremony at one of his favorite places on the island. A GoFundMe account has also been organized. 
 
 Olomana Trail in Kailua is one of Oahu's toughest hikes. 
 
 It's known for its three peaks and it progressively gets harder to climb to the next. 
 
 "Going to the third peak, there's a section as you're going to the second and third where it's narrow, but then there are ropes there you can hang on to," said hiker Dale Yoshizu. 
 
 It was at the third peak where firefighters say Stowell fell about 400 feet near the base of the mountain. 
 
 Hikers who came down Olomana said the trail was muddy from all the rain over the weekend. 
 
 Despite the weather, the trail was busy on Easter Sunday with about 50 or more people climbing to the peaks. 
 
 Even the Hawaiian Trail and Mountain Club took a field trip with about a dozen members. Many of these hikers felt a little uneasy at the sight of Air One. 
 
 "By the time I got up there, there was a helicopter looking for the guy already," said hiker Kyle Chang, who climbed Olomana for the first time Sunday. 
 
 "She said 'Dale, somebody fell from the third peak and their friend was calling to the person to see how the person was and I'm not sure if that person answered,'" Yoshizu said. 
 
 Over the past seven years there have been at least three hiker deaths along Olomana Trail. 
 
 "You know definitely you got to go at your own risk," Chang said. 
 
 "It makes you more aware. Of course it's a little scary. That's a hike I've done a lot of times, but it makes you aware that no matter how many times you've done the hike, you need to be careful," Yoshizu said.
– "I thought it was a sick April Fools' joke." But Lexis Sweeney's Easter Sunday nightmare had no punchline. Sweeney's brother, Nathan Stowell, fell about 400 feet to his death Sunday while hiking on Mount Olomana in east Oahu. Stowell, who moved to Hawaii from Arizona five years ago, had FaceTimed with relatives after reaching the first peak of the mountain, located along the treacherous, 4.5-mile Olomana Trail, Sweeney tells Hawaii News Now. But on the mountain's third peak, the 24-year-old lost his footing shortly before 11am. A "kid's hat blew off and he told the kid, 'Don't get the hat. Let me get it,' because Nathan felt he had better balance," Stowell's friend, James Keener, tells KHON. He then fell some 400 feet. Hikers tell KHON that the trail was muddy after a weekend of rain. By the time authorities reached Stowell near the base of the peak a short time after noon—firefighters had to rappel from a helicopter due to heavy tree cover, per the Honolulu Star-Advertiser—he was dead. A medical examiner later identified injuries to his head and torso. A handyman who loved the outdoors, "my brother died doing what he loved but it was literally a horrific accident," says Sweeney. It's hardly the first to occur on Mount Olomana. Three others have died in falls from its peaks since 2011. Most recently, a 53-year-old Florida man died in 2015 after falling 200 feet while moving between the first and second peaks, per the Star-Advertiser.