Gavin C. Smith's death in the Grand Canyon

[chumley]

From AP:

GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Ariz.- Rangers have recovered the body of a male hiker from a remote area on the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park.

Authorities said Wednesday say the victim's name is being withheld, pending positive identification and notification of his relatives.

The National Park Service received a call Tuesday night about a body being found near the Lava Falls Route, a rugged and remote hiker's trial in the Tuweep area.

Authorities say five men were on a day hike Tuesday when one of them felt fatigued and was running low on water so he turned around to hike out. His body was spotted Tuesday evening near a parking lot adjacent to the start of the route.

Rangers were unable to recover the body until Wednesday morning. It was taken to the Mohave County medical examiner to determine the cause of death.

[azbackpackr]

This poor guy had to die near the trailhead parking?

Ok ok, ok, I will call up my inside track to the Park, and find out more. It may take awhile, though, since that person is off duty this week.

[Al_HikesAZ]

Lawrence man, owner of Fatso’s, dies during hike in Grand Canyon

Lawrence Journal September 30, 2010
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2010/sep/3 ... e-grand-c/

A 30-year-old Lawrence man has died while hiking in Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona.

Gavin C. Smith’s body was found by one of his hiking companions late Tuesday afternoon. Smith was the owner of Fatso’s, 1016 Mass.

Initial indications are that his death was heat-related.

According to information from the National Park Service, Smith and four others were on a day hike. Smith hiked about halfway down the route on Tuesday morning, and decided to wait for his companions to descend to a river and come back for him.

His body was found by one of his hiking companions late Tuesday afternoon, about 100 yards from a parking area where the route begins.

Smith and his companions were hiking along the Lava Falls Route of the national park, which is one of the park’s hottest, steepest routes, according to the park service.

The article has a photo of Gavin with his wife and young child. Very sad. Looks like he was smart enough to recognize that he was having problems but ran short of water.

[imike]

Damn, that is sad... I guess it could be any of us at anytime out there, but I hate to hear about young families being impacted like that. I'm not sure what to think about dying on a day hike... so many variables must come into play to make that happen.

[azbackpackr]

Heat stroke can come on very suddenly and it is deadly. And heat exhaustion is sneaky, too. And they can cause permanent damage.

A friend of mine who is very familiar with desert hiking, and who is an experienced nurse, was telling me she had a close call last spring. She lives in Iowa and had been doing a lot of 10 mile hikes in below zero weather all winter. She goes to AZ a lot, and she flew out here and went on a 10 mile hike, temp about 100 degrees. She said the last 5 miles she stopped 9 times to find what little shade there was, poured water over her head, and drank a lot of water, and she said she was a little delirious, and very, very hot. She said it was as if her blood was too thick to provide any cooling mechanism. But she knew about heat exhaustion, and had plenty of water with her. In the long run, she has sustained what seems to be a permanent problem now of heat regulation. She says her body's heat mechanisms and metabolism are totally messed up ever since then.

[big_load]

She says her body's heat mechanisms and metabolism are totally messed up ever since then.

Yep, that's what happens.

By the way, did they ever publish a cause of death for Kathryn Roth, who died pretty close to there in July?

[azbackpackr]

Not that I ever saw.