A 57-year-old woman died at the Grand Canyon National Park this week after trying to hike eight miles, the National Park Service said.
According to the Park Service, the woman was hiking in the Tuweep area of the national park when she became unconscious.
A park ranger found the woman at 1 a.m. on July 3 and pronounced her dead on the scene. An investigation is underway to find the exact circumstances of the woman’s death.
The temperature in the region the day before reached over 100 degrees Fahrenheit with temperatures at Phantom Ranch, near the Colorado River topping out at 114 degrees.
“The trails themselves, they’re very exposed, there’s just virtually no shade,” Joëlle Baird, public affairs specialist at Grand Canyon National Park told the Arizona Republic. “It’s a very remote and rigorous trail normally, but then you add of course the excessive heat warning the park was in and temperatures in the shade that are well over 100 degrees.”
Weather forecasters have issued an excessive heat warning for the Grand Canyon’s inner portions through Wednesday, with park officials warning visitors not to hike in that area between the hours of 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.
Heat exhaustion, heat stroke, hyponatremia, and death can occur when exposed to those high temperatures. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates more than 600 people in the United States are killed by extreme heat every year.
