A 67-year-old man died while hiking in the Grand Canyon in Arizona on Tuesday, according to the National Parks Service, as the region has faced punishing extreme heat in recent days.
The hiker, who was from Alvarado, Texas, was attempting to reach the Colorado River and stay overnight at Phantom Ranch, a lodging stop on a popular 15-mile round trip route that typically takes two days of hiking.
Around 11:50am, officials got a call that the hiker had been found unresponsive on the South Kaibab Trail, the same place where a different Texas man died last July, trying to reach Phantom Ranch.
“Bystanders immediately initiated CPR while National Park Service medical personnel and volunteers responded on foot,” the parks service said in a statement on Wednesday. “All attempts to resuscitate the individual were unsuccessful.”
The 67-year-old had reportedly turned around at Skeleton Point and was heading back up the trail when the incident occurred, officials said.
Park officials said the man’s death was a reminder of the risks of hiking in extreme summer heat in the canyon.
“In the summer, temperatures on exposed parts of the trail can exceed 120°F (49°C) in the shade, creating extremely hazardous conditions for hikers,” the parks service said in its statement announcing the death.
Officials urged hikers to refrain from hiking between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. under such conditions.
“Park rangers strongly advise against hiking in the inner canyon during those hours and urge all visitors to take extreme caution when planning hikes during the summer months,” the parks service said.
The trail where the hiker died features a series of steep, exposed switchbacks that “lends itself to extreme heat during the summer months,” according to the park.
The area around the Grand Canyon remains under a National Weather Service extreme heat warning, with temperatures forecast to hit a high of 116°F, near the area where the man died.
On Wednesday, temperatures hit a record-high 118 degrees in Phoenix.
Another hiker, Dennis Smith, 74, of Olympia, Washington, died on a nearby trail in May.
The climate crisis is expected to increase deaths from extreme heat by a factor of 50 in the next five decades, according to a recent study.
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