Hiker found dead a half mile from trailhead in Texas national park, officials say
A 75-year-old hiker was found dead along a “moderately difficult” trail as temperatures in a Texas national park exceeded 100 degrees, officials said.
National Park Service rangers were called to the Chimneys Trail at Big Bend National Park at 7:45 p.m. Thursday, July 21, after someone reported a fatality, according to a news release.
Responding rangers say they found the body of 75-year-old man from Houston. He was about a half mile from the trailhead of the 5-mile round trip trail.
“There was no obvious cause of death,” though authorities noted the park is experiencing “extreme heat.”
Park rangers said temperatures in the desert park are topping100 degrees by late morning, and they “increase to exceedingly dangerous levels until long after sunset.”
On the day the hiker died, temperatures along Chimeys Trail hit 104 degrees.
“Big Bend National Park staff and partners are saddened by this loss, and our entire park family extends sincere condolences to the hiker’s family and friends,” Deputy Superintendent David Elkowitz said in a statement.
Hikers of Big Bend National Park should carry and drink at least one gallon of water per day, officials said, and they should be off the desert trails by noon.
Big Bend National Park is about 570 miles west of Houston in western Texas, bordering Mexico.
Hiker dies at Texas national park as daily temperatures top 100 degrees, rangers say
Missing hiker found dead near trailhead in Canyonlands National Park, rangers say
Hiker found alone and lying down on Joshua Tree trail in ‘heat-related emergency’
