The Grand Canyon is one of the most beautiful locations in the United States, but as with anything, you need to practice proper caution and safety. Sadly, one hiking trip turned deadly leaving one hiker dead.
Fellow campers discovered his body. The campsite was located at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, according to park officials. So far, officials haven't revealed who the deceased hiker was. However, it was a 41-year-old man. Fellow hikers discovered him "unresponsive" along the Bright Angel Trail just east of the Pipe Creek River Resthouse on Sunday morning, according to the National Park Service (NPS).
"All attempts by bystanders and National Park Service personnel to resuscitate the individual were unsuccessful," officials said. "The hiker was a 41-year-old male who was hiking out of the canyon from an overnight stay at the Bright Angel Campground near Phantom Ranch."
Currently, the organization is planning to investigate to figure out exactly what happened to the hiker. "An investigation into the incident is being conducted by the NPS in coordination with the Coconino County Medical Examiner," NPS added.
So far, it hasn't been fun times at the Grand Canyon. Besides the recent death, there's also a mysterious illness floating around the area. Several dozen hikers visited Havasupai Falls near Grand Canyon National Park and became very ill. It reached a critical situation with people passing the virus to each other.
Grand Canyon Illness
At one point, officials had to call a helicopter to help transport the sick out of the area and to local medical providers. Some became too sick to properly hike out of the canyon on their own. Maylin Griffiths, who visited the location, told AZ Family that the illness hit her quite suddenly and left her feeling worse and worse.
"We [left] early morning on the 6th and then set up camp. We had a wonderful campsite," Griffiths said. "I was throwing up, just a lot of GI issues, and then it just progressively got worse and worse." Another member of her group also got very sick. As a result, they ended up hiking back several miles to seek out medical attention for the friend.
"He discovered our temperatures were really high. Mine was 104 and my friend was 105. We were violently ill. They were able to admit us to the clinic there because they considered it life threatening," Griffiths told the outlet.
