Colorado man found dead at Grand Canyon National Park, 7th fatality in past month

A Colorado man on a multi-day trip was found dead over the weekend in the Grand Canyon National Park, officials said Monday.

The Grand Canyon Regional Communications Center received a call around 5:30 a.m. from someone reporting a death at Poncho’s Kitchen, near the Colorado River, the National Parks Service said. 

Park rangers responded to the scene where Patrick Horton, 59, a resident of Salida, Colorado, who was on the tenth day of a non-commercial river trip along the Colorado River, was found by members of his party, the NPS said.

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The National Park Service is conducting an investigation in coordination with the Coconino County Medical Examiner’s Office. 

Fox News Digital has reached out to the parks service. No manner or cause of death was provided. 

Horton is believed to be the seventh person to die in the park in less than a month and the 14th this year. Park officials reported 11 fatalities in 2023 and said there are usually about 10 to 15 deaths per year.

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Entrance sign for Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona. (Photo by: Jim Lane/Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images) (Jim Lane/Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

The previous deaths include an 80-year-old man, who authorities say died in August on a commercial river trip after falling from a boat into the river near Fossil Rapid, and a 33-year-old woman who was also found that day after a flash flood swept her away while hiking Aug. 22.

A 20-year-old New Mexico woman was found Aug. 8 below Twin Overlooks; a 43-year-old Missouri man died Aug. 1 while attempting a prohibited BASE jump from Yavapai Point; and a 20-year-old North Carolina man fell to his death July 31 at the South Rim.

The body of a 60-year-old North Carolina man was found at the Grand Canyon National Park on Wednesday after he set off on the Thunder River Trail-Deer Creek loop. (NPS Photo/M. Graden)

Fox News Digital’s Stephen Sorace contributed to this report.