Trifter

This article explores the many different ways tourists die while visiting the Grand Canyon.

The Grand Canyon is truly one of the great wonders of the world and over 5 million people a year visit this scenic wonderland. But every year a few of those visitors die in the Grand Canyon.

First, the vast majority of people who visit the Grand Canyon each year survive the trip. Since roughly 1880, over 600 people are believed to have died while visiting the Grand Canyon. That works out to only 4-5 deaths per year. A very small percentage of the annual visitors.

So how do people die in the Grand Canyon?

Suicide

It is believed well over 50 people have committed suicide in the Grand Canyon, primarily by leaping over the cliffs. I have written extensively about the phenomena of people ending their own lives in beautiful places. While most suicides are not committed in public places when they are many times people will choose some of the most beautiful spots on the planet to end their lives. This phenomena leaves behind other victims, and in the Grand Canyon that would include the rangers and other park workers who have to deal with the aftermath.

Falling

One time a friend and I had hiked down into the Grand Canyon by one trail and were hiking out another trail. We were moving fast passing many people and suddenly a park ranger came out of nowhere and passed us. He was not running but walking very rapidly up the path and soon he was out of sight. After we had finished our hike we sat in the lodge with pitchers of beer and water and talked about how fast the ranger had been moving. Another ranger heard our conversation and came over and told us that the ranger was rushing to help an old lady along the trail who had suffered heat stroke. The ranger told us that lots of people in the park needed their help on a daily basis.

She then told us that two days before a man had gone out at night to view the canyon and never came back. The next day they found his body down in the canyon. Apparently he had slipped and fallen over the edge in the dark and died. She told us that happens a few times every year. At least 50 people have died this way. My guess is that many falls and suicides get misclassified. And knowing human nature, some falls and suicides have been murders.

Homicides

Some 23 people are classified as being murdered in the Grand Canyon.

Natural Causes

Some 70 people have died in the Grand Canyon from heat stroke, cardiac arrest, dehydration and hypothermia. The elements can be severe in the canyon. The hike I talked about above started out in snow flurries at the top and by the time we reached the bottom of the canyon it was almost 80 degrees.

Image via Wikipedia (Grand Canyon rescue helicopter, 1978)

Drowning

Some 80 people have drowned in the Grand Canyon. Most on the rafting trips down the Colorado River. Amazingly not one person in the John Wesley Powell expedition down the Colorado River and through the Grand Canyon back in 1869 drowned (3 men did die but only after leaving the expedition and they were killed by Indians or Mormons).

Flash Floods

Seven people have died from flash floods in the Grand Canyon. A flash flood can occur from rainfall many miles away and catch unsuspecting victims easily.

Freak Errors and Accidents

Some 30 people have died from lightning strikes, rock falls and the like.

Airplane and Helicopter Crashes

Over 240 people have died in the Grand Canyon from plane and helicopter crashes. Here are some of the crashes.

In 1956, a TWA Lockheed Super Constellation and a United Airlines Douglas DC-7 collided above the canyon while both were flying in unmonitored airspace. The two prop planes had taken off from Los Angeles International Airport within three minutes of one another on eastbound transcontinental flights. The wreckage fell into the Grand Canyon and all 128 people from both planes were killed.

(TWA wreckage top arrow and DC-7 wreckage bottom arrow) Source

In 1986, a sightseeing helicopter and a twin-engine airplane collided over the canyon killing 25 people when the helicopter was flying below the rim and rose up right into the plane. Due to this accident flights below the rim are no longer allowed. In 1995, a sightseeing plane lost an engine and crashed killing 8 people. In 2001, a helicopter hit an outcropping of rock killing all 6 people aboard. In 2003, a sightseeing helicopter crashed into a canyon wall  killing the pilot and all 6 of his passengers.

(Wreckage from 2003 helicopter crash burnt Grand Canyon wall) Source

If you are one of the 5 million visitors to the Grand Canyon this year the odds are incredibly high you will not die there. But a handful of those visitors will never leave the Grand Canyon alive.