Multiple hikers have died this summer in the Grand Canyon National Park — a U.S. West landscape known not only for its rugged beauty, but also for its perilous weather extremes.
Within the past week, National Park Service (NPS) officials have reported three fatalities in a region plagued by both excessive, dry heat and flood-fueled river rapids.
Rescue personnel on Wednesday located the body of a 60-year-old man who had lost contact with family on a solo, multiday trip on Thunder River Trail in the park’s north. Although a Thursday report did not elaborate on the cause of death, NPS materials describe Thunder River access as “difficult, sometimes impossible,” but with a promise of “something close to canyon perfection.”
The backpacker’s body was found during an already deadly week. On Sunday morning, the officials announced they had found the body of a 33-year-old woman, Chenoa Nickerson, above the confluence of Havasu Creek and the Colorado River. A multiday search-and-rescue mission took place after Nickerson disappeared in a torrential rainstorm.
The same day Nickerson went missing, the resident Havasupai Tribe likewise reported devastating flash floods, which damaged “the main trail to Supai Village, trails within the village, tribal member homes, public utility systems and the campgrounds.”
It is unclear whether climate change-induced weather conditions have contributed to the onslaught of Grand Canyon deaths this year.
Heather Klein Olson, executive director of the American Hiking Society, said she believes the fatalities stem from a combination of factors, including a climate-driven increase in intense and more frequent rainfall events, as well as land use changes that have altered water flow.
In addition to such shifts, which include both park-adjacent development and deforestation, Klein Olson pointed to “increased foot traffic over the past couple years, especially since COVID.”
That pandemic-linked influx of visitors to park lands has effectively exposed a greater pool of people to flood-related risks, she explained.
“Everyone is interested and wants to get outside, and it’s beautiful, and we love our outdoors,” Klein Olson continued. “But there’s also a variety of factors that have to be considered when we get outside.”
There have been 14 fatalities at Grand Canyon National Park this season, just below than the annual average of about 15 deaths, NPS spokesperson Rebecca Roland told The Hill. With the monsoon period — July to September — still underway, she stressed that hikers should remain aware of flash floods and excessive heat.
“The arid, sparsely vegetated environment here means that rainfall quickly generates runoff because the ground doesn’t absorb it well,” Roland said in an emailed statement. “This runoff moves rapidly through narrow canyons and steep terrain, turning dry streambeds into torrents of water within minutes, even from relatively small storms.”
Roland suggested that visitors refer to the NPS Grand Canyon Weather Dangers website for detailed guidelines, adding that parks officials and Grand Canyon Conservancy volunteers operate an active, preventative search and rescue team. This group, she explained, also educates hikers on-site, asks them critical questions and encourages people to turn back if there is a concern.
Last Sunday, the same day Nickerson’s body was discovered, parks personnel responded by helicopter to an alert about an 80-year-old man whose boat had flipped over, sending him into the Colorado River. Resuscitation attempts proved unsuccessful, according to the NPS.