Deaths in the National Parks

I read the books" Death In The Grand Canyon" and" Death at Yellowstone" and most deaths were really the result of stupid actions. I remember Yellowstone was mainly being out on Yellowstone Lake in the afternoon when the storms came in, and you ended up in 45 degree water. Grand Canyon was dehydration and getting too close to the edge for the perfect photo.


Fiery Furnace

My friend Tom Egan and I hiked to Delicate Arch at Arches National Park in Utah years ago. It is my second favorite National Park. We especially enjoyed the Fiery Furnace Hike. When we reached the top of Delicate Arch we started to break our food out of our knapsacks. A man came over to us and asked us to please NOT have lunch there. It just stopped us cold.


Delicate Arch

Then we looked over and saw that his wife was sobbing. Their son had fallen off the edge on their last visit. So we didn't eat, but just sat there quietly until a group of Cub Scouts came up and started running all over the place.

There is a rocky but flat pitch to the edge and if your water bottle gets knocked over it rolls very fast and will go over the edge before you know it. We got really nervous that one of the Cub Scouts would go over the edge, so we got up and left.

We followed the couple who lost their child down off the high part of Delicate Arch, "the one on the stamp." They took a right, going to the spot where he landed, we guessed, and we continued on to the trail head.

On the TV show "Hill Street Blues," the sergeant, after muster, would always say, "Be careful out there."

- Tocino, Believer of All Written Words