The National Park Service said the 60-year-old backpacker was on a multi-day solo excursion from Thunder River to Deer Creek when he was found dead.
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A 60-year-old hiker from North Carolina was found dead near a trail at Arizona’s Grand Canyon National Park, authorities said.
The National Park Service (NPS) said in a news release that a report was received on Tuesday, Aug. 27 around 4 p.m. local time, about a solo backpacker who did not check in with his family as he was “attempting the Thunder River Trail-Deer Creek loop.”
The next day, NPS search and rescue personnel via helicopter found the victim deceased along a route bridging Lower Tapeats Camp and Deer Creek Camp, officials added.
The agency said the backpacker was on a multi-day solo excursion from Thunder River to Deer Creek.
“An investigation into the incident is underway by the NPS in coordination with the Coconino County Medical Examiner,” said the NPS in the news release.
The victim has not been identified, and the circumstances that led to his death remain unclear.
This latest fatality is believed to be the sixth death at Grand Canyon National Park in less than a month, according to the Associated Press. It’s also the 14th death at the canyon this year.
Earlier this week, the body of 33-year-old Chenoa Nickerson was found near river mile 176 in the Colorado River. Nickerson was hiking in the park when she was swept away along with her husband by a flash flood on Aug. 22. Her husband was rescued after the incident.
The Grand Canyon Regional Communications Center was notified about an 80-year-old man who entered the Colorado River after his boat capsized at Fossil Rapid on Aug. 25, the NPS said in a separate news release. Efforts to resuscitate the man were unsuccessful when responders arrived at the scene. His name was not released at the time.
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On Aug. 6, the body of Leticia A. Castillo, 20, was found below Twin Overlooks along Desert View Drive, per the NPS. The agency noted Castillo is believed to have entered the Grand Canyon on or around Aug. 3.
Five days earlier, on Aug. 1, officials received a report of a man who attempted an illegal BASE jump from Yavapai Point on the South Rim of the park. When authorities responded, they found the man’s body “approximately 500 feet below the rim, along with a deployed parachute.” His name was withheld pending positive identification, according to the NPS.
One day earlier, Abel Joseph Mejia, 20, accidentally fell from the rim near the Pipe Creek Overlook in the Grand Canyon, said the NPS. The agency said his body was “located” approximately “400 ft. below the rim.”
