A man fell to his death at the Grand Canyon Skywalk earlier this week, as the Grand Canyon National Park was recently named the deadliest of America’s 63 national parks. The unidentified man, 33, went over the edge of the Sky Walk the morning of June 5, falling 4,000 feet down to his death.
Search and rescue teams from the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office used ropes and a helicopter to try and help the fallen man. Crews pronounced the man dead at the scene and transferred him to the Hualapai Nation, who operate the attraction. It’s not clear if the victim fell from the edge of the canyon or from the Skywalk structure itself, though the county search and rescue team posted a link to a suicide prevention hotline on Facebook.
The investigation into his death is ongoing but the Grand Canyon has consistently proved to be a dangerous spot for those taking risks from great heights. It is best known for the Skywalk, a horseshoe-shaped glass bridge that juts out 70 feet from the canyon walls and gives visitors a view of the Colorado River 4,000 feet below. The Canyon and the river have deep threads in the Hualapai tribe’s history. The lower 108 miles of the Canyon and parts of the Colorado River are situated on the Hualapai Reservation.
Meanwhile, Grand Canyon National Park – which is not affiliated with the Skywalk – was named the deadliest national park in the United States. A Freedom of Information Act request uncovered that at least six people have died and 56 more have gone missing over the last five years at Grand Canyon National Park. The numbers were from the period of 2018 until February of 2023 and they topped the hundreds of US national parks in those categories, despite not even coming in the top ten – 4.7 million in 2022 – in terms of visitors.
By comparison a reported four people each died at Yosemite, Golden Gate Park and Death Valley national parks in that five-year period. Olympic National Park in Washington saw the second highest number of missing persons reports. A Stanford University professor set to face charges for allegedly slamming the door on his girlfriend was found days after being declared missing on a hiking trip in the park last week.
Another 1,100 people were reported as missing in that five-year period, though most of them were found. However, that number may have been undercounted, according to a retired chief of emergency services at the Grand Canyon. ‘Those can be from everything relating to heat stroke, lightning, drownings on the river, air crashes, suicides, accidental falls – all types of things,’ Ken Phillips said.
He added that in addition to all of the natural dangers of the Grand Canyon, its sheer size can make it tough to execute rescue missions. ‘You have to realize just how difficult it can be to find a single human being in such a large area,’ he said. ‘When you’re looking for a person, you truly are looking for a needle in a haystack’ In 2008, the park led the country’s national parks in suicides, according to the Arizona Daily Sun. Many suicides are from people jumping off the ledge, but there have been several who drove their cars off.
