A hiker died of possible heat illness at a Death Valley trailhead on Tuesday as temperatures rose to 121°F, the park says.
Steve Curry, aged 71 collapsed at Golden Canyon’s restrooms. The dayhiking site has more than 7 miles exposed trails that wind through sculpted sedimentary rocks. The incident occurred shortly after 3:30 p.m., during the hottest part of the day; while temperatures at Badwater Basin reached 121°F, temperatures in the canyons were even hotter “due to canyon walls radiating the sun’s heat.” The National Park Service said Curry, who was visiting from Los Angeles, had just finished a hike in the area and was kitted out in a sun hat and hiking apparel and carrying a backpack.
On Facebook, the Inyo County Sheriff’s Office said that Curry had hiked to Zabriskie Point, about 2 miles away from the parking lot, where he gave an interview to Los Angeles Times Hayley Smith, a journalist and photographer from the UK, visited the park in order to report about its extreme heat. Curry, who was huddled in the shade underneath “a small metal interpretive sign,” told the reporters he had hiked to Zabriskie Point early that morning.
“It’s a dry heat…Everything’s hot here” he…
