National Parks: Six people die each week at the Grand Canyon and other parks

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The national park system includes 419 zones, of which 61 are designated national parks. Together, they cover more than 85 million acres and are visited by hundreds of millions of people each year – more than 318 million by 2018, to be exact.

Every week, there are an average of six deaths in the national park system.

According to National Parks Service spokesman Jeremy Barnum.

This equates to approximately 312 deaths per year, or just under one death per million visitors.

Causes of death range from drowning and falls to road accidents or medical incidents such as heart attacks.

Safe visits require planning

In the end, national parks showcase the country's greatest natural beauty. And nature can be dangerous.

"Throughout the year, the national park system offers a wide range of visitor experiences in unique landscapes, with potential hazards that may exist in the country's parks," Barnum told CNN .

Visitors, he says, can reduce their risk of injury if they:

  • plan ahead and prepare properly
  • select the most appropriate activity that matches their skills and experience
  • ask for information before they arrive at the park about hazards and environmental conditions
  • follow the rules and regulations
  • and, he says, "uses good judgment in recreating".

Safe photography requires care

Of course, for many park visitors, photographing the splendor of nature – and their presence in the interior – is part of the experience.

From time to time, a visitor dies while trying to take a picture. For example, one of the people who recently fell and died in Grand Canyon would have attempted to take pictures under a glance.

This is a serious concern for many parks.

Yellowstone National Park provides visitors with a guide describing the dangerous locations of selfies. Among them: Next to geysers, in a hot spring, in Yellowstone Lake, at the edge of a canyon and alongside wildlife.
The National Parks Service also has a general guide to photography urging visitors to check park alerts and closures, and stay on designated trails, no matter what the temptation of the photo.

"We understand – the national parks offer pretty photogenic landscapes," reads the guide. "The views are really beautiful, we want you to capture all the splendor of our amazing parks, but do not put your life in danger for a photo."

Several recent accidents made headlines

On Tuesday, a 70-year-old woman died in the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park, marking the fourth recent death in the park.
In late March and early April, three visitors died in the park in the space of eight days and two of these deaths were due to falls.

According to a spokesperson for Grand Canyon National Park, an average of 12 people die each year at the Grand Canyon. The causes are various: heat, drowning, natural causes and, rarely, falls.

To put this in perspective: in 2018, Grand Canyon National Park was the 8th most visited park in the United States, with 6,280,495 visitors. It's less of a death for 500,000 visitors.

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