Wisconsin man dies during Grand Canyon hike to Colorado River, officials say
A Wisconsin man died while hiking on a trail at the Grand Canyon in Arizona last week, the National Park Service said Tuesday.
The 56-year-old man was hiking the Bright Angel Trail below Havasupai Gardens around 3 p.m. on Friday when he became unresponsive, the park service said.
After receiving the report of an unresponsive hiker, the Grand Canyon Regional Communications Center dispatched search and rescue personnel. They reached the hiker at around 3:30 p.m. and pronounced him deceased.
The hiker, identified only as a 56-year-old man from Pewaukee, Wisconsin, had set out for a day hike to the Colorado River and back when the incident occurred, according to officials.
No cause of death was immediately released.
NPS and the Coconino County Medical Examiner are investigating the hiker’s death.
The death was the first of two to occur at a U.S. national park last week.
A second 56-year-old hiker died Saturday at Big Bend National Park in Texas after experiencing chest pains around 1:15 p.m. while trekking across the Pinnacles Trail with a scout troop, park officials said.
Friends hiking with the man performed CPR with the help of bystanders until park rangers arrived with an automated external defibrillator. The attempts to revive the man were unsuccessful.
No additional information in either case was immediately provided.
