Colorado man found dead in Grand Canyon, marking seventh death in park since end of July

A Colorado man was found dead Sunday in the Grand Canyon while on a group river trip, marking the seventh fatality in the national park since July 31. 

Grand Canyon National Park officials received a call early Sunday morning reporting a fatality at Poncho’s Kitchen, a part of the Canyon near the 137th mile of the Colorado River, according to a news release. 

The deceased was identified as Patrick Horton, a 59-year-old from Salida, Colorado who was visiting the Canyon on a “non-commercial” river trip, park service officials said in the release.

His body was found by other members of his party on the 10th day of their trip. 

The Grand Canyon has had a turbulent summer with six deaths in August alone, ranging from a woman being swept away by a flash flood to an illegal BASE jump gone wrong. Three people died in the first week of August alone. 

The park recorded 11 deaths in 2023, 12 in 2022, a staggering 23 in 2021 and 13 in 2020. The average usually sticks to somewhere between 10 to 15 deaths for the entire year, park officials said — with 2021 being an outlier. 

Horton’s death marks the 15th fatality of 2024, nearing the high end of the annual average. 

From 2014 to 2019, 103 people died in Grand Canyon National Park, according to the NPS mortality dashboard. Of those fatalities, 49 were a result of medical emergencies or issues, including 37 deaths that involved no physical activity.

Across all national parks in the US, an average of 358 deaths were reported each year during this period, putting the Grand Canyon National Park on the lower end of the spectrum. 

The National Park Service and the Coconino County Medical Examiner’s office are still investigating Horton’s death, NPS said. It is not clear how he died or when.