GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Aug. 29, 2024 (Gephardt Daily) — A 60-year-old backpacker has died during a multi-day hike near Thunder River Trail in Grand Canyon National Park.
Wednesday morning, National Park Service (NPS) search and rescue personnel, responding via helicopter, located a deceased individual along a route connecting Lower Tapeats Camp and Deer Creek Camp, according to a Thursday park news release.
“The backpacker, a 60-year-old male from North Carolina, was on a solo multi-day backpacking trip from Thunder River to Deer Creek. An investigation into the incident is underway by the NPS in coordination with the Coconino County (Ariz.) Medical Examiner.”
The release said on Tuesday at approximately 4 p.m., the Grand Canyon Regional Communications Center received a report of a solo backpacker who had failed to check in with a family member while attempting the Thunder River Trail-Deer Creek loop.
The death is the third in a week at the park. Sunday an 80-year-old man drowned after his boat flipped in the Fossil Rapids area of the Colorado River. That same day the body of a 33-year-old Arizona woman was recovered who had been swept away three days earlier by flash flooding In Havasu Canyon.
