Look out below

[PaleoRob]

Man dies after driving his car into the canyon at the South Rim. Apparently he was able to drive his car from behind the Thunderbird Lodge to the lip and then it plunged 600 feet until it stopped. Hopefully it didn't crush any condors or injure anyone down on the trail. I guess not, since the information is pretty short.
( dead link removed )

An unidentified man died Monday when he apparently drove his car off the South Rim of the Grand Canyon and plummeted about 600 feet to the rocky slope below.

At about 6 a.m. Monday several calls were made to the Grand Canyon Regional Communications Center to report that a car had driven over the edge near the El Tovar Hotel in Grand Canyon National
Park.

Upon arriving at the scene, investigators found tire tracks leading to the edge behind the Thunderbird Lodge and received reports of a single occupant in a blue passenger car driving over the edge.

Rescue personnel descended on ropes and located the vehicle approximately 600 feet below the rim. The body of a lone male was located shortly thereafter. Plans for retrieval of the body and the vehicle were being made.

An investigation into the incident is being conducted by the National Park Service.

[Nan]

Just eyeballing this in Google Earth, if he drove straight over from Tbird Lodge, it would be the overlook where the telescopes are, well to the east of Bright Angel Trail.

[big_load]

It sounds like what happens too often up there. I wish there were less of it.

[PaleoRob]

There's guard walls there, but between Tbird/Kachina and Bright Angel lodge, there is an area that we called the cove, and a large section of it doesn't have any guard wall
Right here: http://hikearizona.com/map.php?LAT=36.0 ... =18&M=5&G=
And that is basically right above 1 1/2 mile rest house. That cove drains into a large dryfall directly above the switchback. You can look up from the trail and see the rim there (barely) through the drainage. Lots of condors roost in that area. Every other place from Verkamps to Lookout Studio has a wall.

[SuperstitionGuy]

So was it intentional or accidental ?

[PaleoRob]

If it indeed happened at the spot where I think it did, I can only imagine it being intentional.

[writelots]

I sure hope that this doesn't encourage the park to create barriers on that portion of the rim. I like that there are some areas where you don't have walls or railings between you and the great abyss...