Colorado man found dead at Grand Canyon is 15th fatality this year, national park says

A Colorado man was found dead in the Grand Canyon over the weekend, the 15th fatality there this year, the National Park Service said Monday.

The park service said its regional communications center received a call Sept. 7 at about 5:30 a.m. reporting a fatality at Poncho's Kitchen, near river mile 137 along the Colorado River.

Park rangers responded and found the victim, identified as Patrick Horton, 59, of Salida, Colorado. Horton was on the 10th day of a noncommercial river trip and was discovered dead by members of his party, the park service said in a news release.

The park service said it would investigate his death while the Coconino County Medical Examiner's Office determines the cause.

Other recent fatalities at Grand Canyon National Park

The death Saturday is the latest in several fatalities at the park this summer:

• Aug. 27: The regional communications center received a report of a solo backpacker who had failed to check in with a family member while attempting the Thunder River Trail-Deer Creek loop, the park service said in a news release. The next morning, search and rescue personnel, responding via helicopter, found a body along a route connecting Lower Tapeats Camp and Deer Creek Camp. The backpacker was a 60-year-old man from North Carolina who was on a solo multiday backpacking trip, according to the park service.
• Aug. 25: A few days before that, the park was alerted to an emergency via a satellite phone call from a commercial river trip near Fossil Rapid on the Colorado River around 3:40 p.m. The communications center received a report that "CPR was in progress" on an 80-year-old man who had entered the river after his boat flipped at Fossil Rapid. Despite the efforts of the group and park rangers flown in by helicopter, he died, the park service said.

• Aug. 25: Earlier that same day, around 11:30 a.m., a body was discovered by a commercial river trip near mile 176 in the Colorado River. The victim, identified as Chenoa Nickerson, 33, from Gilbert, Arizona, was reported missing after a flash flood that struck Havasu Canyon on Aug. 22, the park service said. She was last seen about 100 yards above the confluence of Havasu Creek and the Colorado River. The park service said it conducted a "multi-day search and rescue operation" that was ultimately unsuccessful. Rangers recovered Nickerson's body, which was taken to the rim by helicopter and transferred to the Coconino County Medical Examiner.

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Gabe Hauari is a national trending news reporter at Paste BN. You can follow him on X @GabeHauari or email him at Gdhauari@gannett.com.