Hiker trapped in canyon in Zion National Park dies

ZION NATIONAL PARK, Utah (AP) — A 34-year-old man was found dead over the weekend in Zion National Park after rising floodwaters trapped him in a narrow canyon that is home to one of the park’s best-known hiking trails.

The man’s body was found Sunday afternoon in the “Narrows,” National Park Service spokesman David Eaker said in a news release. Officials have not yet released his name.

The man and a male companion began hiking early Saturday when rains came and the river began rising rapidly, forcing them to take refuge on high ground. They were on opposite sides of the river and could not talk to one another because of the noise of the water, Eaker said.

The two waited until about 4 p.m., hoping the water level would lower and allow them to hike out.

The deceased man’s friend swam the flooding river to safety, while the 34-year-old man remained where he was.

The man who swam to safety alerted park rangers Saturday evening about his friend, but they determined the river was running too high to safely enter at night. Officials also thought the man was in a safe place.

When they hiked back into the canyon Sunday morning, the man was not where he was the day before. His body was found downriver on a bank around 2 p.m. Sunday.

There was no word yet on a possible cause of death, and his name was being withheld until relatives could be notified.

Zion National Park, in the southwest corner of Utah, is the state’s most popular national park. Earlier this month, it was closed for several hours when heavy rain and a surging river made park routes impassable.

Earlier this year, two people died in the park while BASE jumping from cliffs.

Heavy rain swamped much of Utah over the weekend, shutting down a sewage treatment plant, damaging homes and causing a moving car to plunge into a river.

In southern Utah, a man and woman from Italy were returning to their campsite at Kodachrome Basin State Park on Saturday when the ground under the pavement gave way due to heavy flooding and sent their car into the Paria River, Garfield County sheriff’s deputies said.

The car came to a rest upside-down about 150 yards downstream in the middle of the river, and the couple were rescued by watercraft. Both suffered extreme hypothermia and were taken to the hospital, where they are expected to make a full recovery, sheriff’s spokeswoman Cheryl Church said.

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Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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