A husband and wife were hiking overnight in Zion National Park in the Narrows when temperatures plunged below 20 degrees. They were making the 16-mile hike this past Tuesday when they started showing signs of hypothermia. The wife died after the husband left her behind to go get help.
On Wednesday morning, shuttle drivers reported that visitors had encountered an injured man and a woman, who was non-responsive, in the Narrows section of the Utah park.
The Zion National Park Search and Rescue Team responded and found the man on the paved Riverside Walk trail.
He was then transported to the Zion Emergency Operations Center.
Farther up the Narrows, others found the woman near the Virgin River.
While first responders administered emergency aid, they determined that she was deceased.
The Narrows is described as a “gorge with walls a thousand feet tall” and the Zion Canyon’s narrowest section. The husband reported that he and his wife has become “dangerously cold overnight and experienced symptoms consistent with hypothermia.”
Temperatures in the area reached below 20 degrees Fahrenheit late Tuesday night, according to the National Weather Service in Kanab.
After stopping about a mile-and-a-half from the north end of Riverside Walk, the man continued on to get help early Wednesday, while the woman remained.
Park rangers found him there when other visitors were assisting him down the trail.
More visitors farther up the Narrows administered CPR to the woman before search and rescue members arrived.
The National Park Service said that they appreciate the efforts made by the visitors who stopped to help. “The Washington County Sheriff’s Office, the Utah Office of the Medical Examiner and the National Park Service are still investigating the cause of the woman’s death.”
Source Fox News
