New details are emerging about three hikers who died from suspected heat-related illnesses in Utah state and national parks over the weekend, including a father and daughter who are lost during a strenuous hike in Canyonlands National Park in temperatures above 35 degrees.
The daughter, 23, and her father, 52, texted 911 to alert dispatchers that they were lost and out of water while hiking the 8.1-mile Syncline Loop, described by the National Park Service as the most challenging trail in the southeastern Utah park’s Island in the Sky district. The pair set out Friday to negotiate steep switchbacks and scramble through boulder fields with limited trail markings as air temperatures soared above 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
Park rangers and a Bureau of Land Management helicopter crew began searching for the missing hikers early Friday night, but found them dead. The San Juan County Sheriff’s Office identified them Monday as Albino Herrera Espinoza and his daughter, Beatriz Herrera, of Green Bay, Wisconsin.
According to the Green Bay Press Gazette, the elder Espinoza owns El Sarape, a well-known Mexican restaurant in the city.
“The San Juan County Sheriff’s Office thanks our partners for their assistance in this tragic incident and extends our deepest condolences to the family and friends of Albino and Beatriz,” the office said in a statement.
Because of the rugged terrain, security officials used a helicopter to remove the bodies from the park early Saturday morning and take them to the state coroner’s office, the sheriff’s office said. Their deaths are being investigated as heat-related by the local sheriff’s office and the National Park Service.
“While temperatures will remain high this summer, park visitors are advised to carry and drink plenty of water and avoid strenuous exercise during the midday heat,” the park ranger said.
Mickey Krakówski / AP
Later Saturday, emergency responders in southwestern Utah responded to a report of two hikers “affected by a heat-related incident” in Snow Canyon State Park, known for its lava tubes, sand dunes and a canyon carved from red and white Navajo Sandstone.
A multi-agency search team located and treated two hikers suffering from heat exhaustion. While treating the individuals, a passing hiker informed them of an unconscious person nearby. First responders found the 30-year-old woman dead, public safety officials said.
Her death is being investigated by the Santa Clara-Ivins Public Safety Department. She has not been publicly identified.
Tourists continue to flock to parks in Utah and other southwestern states during the hottest months of the year, even as government officials warn that hiking in extreme heat poses serious health risks.
Three hikers have died in the past month in Arizona’s Grand Canyon National Park, where summer temperatures on exposed trails can soar above 120 degrees Fahrenheit. A 50-year-old Texas man died July 7 while trying to reach the South Rim. Weeks earlier, a 69-year-old man collapsed and died while hiking in the stifling heat, and a 41-year-old who had spent the night at the canyon floor was found dead not far from his campsite. Temperatures deep in the Grand Canyon can soar into the triple digits in the summer.
A motorcyclist died earlier this month in Death Valley National Park in eastern California, and another was hospitalized with severe heat illness. Both were part of a group riding through the Badwater Basin area during the scorching weather.
Air temperatures in Death Valley reached at least 125 degrees Fahrenheit (52 degrees Celsius) for nine consecutive days from July 4 to 12 — the park’s longest streak at or above that temperature since the early 1900s, the National Park Service announced Monday. Now, parts of the park are experiencing a multi-day power outage caused by a thunderstorm as temperatures hover just above 120 degrees Fahrenheit.
Elsewhere on Monday, authorities said a 61-year-old man was found dead in his camper in eastern Washington state. The man likely died Wednesday when temperatures in the area reached 108 degrees Fahrenheit (42 degrees Celsius), Franklin County Coroner Curtis McGary said.
Authorities also suspected heat in the death of an 81-year-old man in Oregon on Saturday, but have not released further details. His death brings the number of suspected heat-related deaths in the state to 17 since the Fourth of July weekend, The Oregonian/Oregonlive.com reported.