2 Ohio men die in flash flood while hiking in Utah

KANAB, Utah — Two men from Ohio who were hiking in Utah were found dead in a canyon and officials say they were the victims of a flash flood.

The body of Gary York, 65, of West Chester, was found Sunday, and the body of John Walter, 72, of Kettering, was found Monday in Buckskin Gulch, according to a news release from the Kane County Sheriff’s Office. The two men were brothers-in-law, Fox 13 reports.

The sheriff’s office says one of its search-and-rescue teams was contacted at about 11:30 a.m. Sunday and told that a group hiking in the canyon had found a deceased male. Sheriff’s deputies and other rescuers were able to recover the body and took it to the Coconcino County Coroner’s Office. Officials then began trying to identify the body.

At about 9:30 a.m. Monday, the West Chester, Ohio, Police Department contacted the sheriff’s office and said that two males had been reported overdue by family members. The men had told family members at about 3 p.m. Saturday they intended to go hiking in the canyon and had not been heard from since then.

Authorities were able to confirm that the body found Sunday was York using pictures provided by his family. At about 5 p.m. Monday, searchers found the body of Kettering in the canyon near the Paria River.

Flash flooding occurred during the time the men were hiking, the sheriff’s office says. York was carried about 10 miles by the flooding, while Kettering was carried about seven to eight miles, the sheriff’s office says.

“We lost just extraordinary men,” Corey Messer, Walter’s daughter and York’s niece, tells Fox 13. “My dad was one of the best men I’ve ever known. … If somebody needed help … they would be the first to pitch in. They were just great human beings and life will never be the same without them.”

The area where the two men died has had dangerous flooding in the past, the sheriff’s office says, with two men from Florida killed in flooding in March.