Death in the Grand Canyon -- it can happen even to smart people

[Anonymous]

Think carefully before taking the trail down to the bottom. 110-120 degrees is no place to be hiking.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/04/us/hiking-death-grand-canyon-trnd/index.html

[Anonymous]

Many educated people make dumb decisions in life. They lack common sense and practical life skills. Not surprised.

[Anonymous]

How awful. Thank god the children were ok.

[Anonymous]

The fact that they're dead is a pretty good indication they weren't all that smart.

"Educated" and "smart" are two very different things.

People who never finished grade school could realize this hike was a bad idea.

[Anonymous]

"Experienced hikers" take enough water for everyone. Why does the media try to make it seem like a unforeseable tragedy, instead of what it was - a lack of planning?

[Anonymous]

I've hiked that trail and I'm a lousy hiker. I think she must have been pretty disoriented to get lost on that hike. There is less water on that trai versus the bright angel. They do have a lot of warnings posted about how much water you need. A lot of people don't think about it because it's like 20 degrees cooler at the rim when you start the hike.

[Anonymous]

This is very sad. However I am not surprised. Even on this board, I see many smug people act like they know it all and like nothing bad can happen to them.

There was a thread where someone warned about the danger of visiting AZ and the Grand Canyon during the summer. But there were smug posters being lame badasses bragging how 100-120 degrees is no big deal and they've hiked there in summer with their kids blah blah. That false sense of safety is dangerous and stupid, and leads many to cause their own deaths, underestimating the extreme power of nature.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've hiked that trail and I'm a lousy hiker. I think she must have been pretty disoriented to get lost on that hike. There is less water on that trai versus the bright angel. They do have a lot of warnings posted about how much water you need. A lot of people don't think about it because it's like 20 degrees cooler at the rim when you start the hike.

It sounds like she might have panicked when her daughter got sick and she lost her way off the trail.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've hiked that trail and I'm a lousy hiker. I think she must have been pretty disoriented to get lost on that hike. There is less water on that trai versus the bright angel. They do have a lot of warnings posted about how much water you need. A lot of people don't think about it because it's like 20 degrees cooler at the rim when you start the hike.

It sounds like she might have panicked when her daughter got sick and she lost her way off the trail.

Based on her getting confused, it's a good indication that she herself was probably suffering some heat exhaustion already when she separated from the kids, and thus was easily confused. This is not a problem because of the canyon, but because of the hot conditions and her poor planning. Despite all the warnings about how much water you need and the fact that she was an ER doctor who should have known, she did not prepare well enough. One or two bottles of water in your backpack are not enough for 3 people. I don't know how much she had, but it was clearly not enough. Most likely she took the amount one person would need and forgot that she would need to carry water for 3.

[Anonymous]

Education does not equal intelligence. She should have waited in the safe place with the kids for someone to come along. The parks are crowded and someone did come along. Even in the back county, you will see people on the trail every hour or so.

[Anonymous]

I've hiked to the bottom and will do it again, but why would anybody do it in late July?

[Anonymous]

Yes. And remember back to the topic "Grand Canyon/Southwest/Southern California?" a few weeks ago? Where they were claiming its not a problem in the summer.

[Anonymous]

This is such a heartbreaking story.

There are so many warnings as you head into Grand Canyon, but I think people still don't quite get how hot and dangerous it can be down there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've hiked to the bottom and will do it again, but why would anybody do it in late July?

Because for some people, they don't have a lot of control over when they can take vacation, FFS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've hiked to the bottom and will do it again, but why would anybody do it in late July?

Because for some people, they don't have a lot of control over when they can take vacation, FFS.

But they have control over WHERE they go on vacation, and whether they choose to hike to the bottom. So go somewhere else for vacation, but if you do go to Grand Canyon in July, don't hike to the bottom, FFS.