3 hikers die in Utah parks as temperatures hit extreme highs

SALT LAKE CITY — Three hikers died over the weekend in suspected heat-related cases at state and national parks in Utah, including a father and daughter who got lost on a strenuous hike in Canyonlands National Park in extreme temperatures. 

The daughter, 23, and her father, 52, sent a 911 text alerting dispatchers that they were lost and had run out of water while hiking the 13-kilometer (8.1-mile) Syncline Loop, described by the National Park Service as the most challenging trail in the Island in the Sky district of the southeast Utah park. The pair set out Friday to navigate steep switchbacks and scramble through boulder fields with limited trail markers as the air temperature surpassed 38 degrees Celsius (100 degrees Fahrenheit). 

Park rangers and a helicopter crew with the Bureau of Land Management began their search for the lost hikers in the early evening Friday but found them already dead. The San Juan County Sheriff’s Office identified them Monday as Albino Herrera Espinoza and his daughter, Beatriz Herrera, of Green Bay, Wisconsin. 

Due to the jagged terrain, safety officials used a helicopter to airlift the bodies out of the park and to the state medical examiner Saturday morning, according to the sheriff's office. Their deaths are being investigated as heat-related by the local sheriff and the National Park Service. 

Later Saturday, first responders in southwest Utah responded to a call about two hikers “suffering from a heat-related incident” at Snow Canyon State Park, which is known for its lava tubes, sand dunes and a canyon carved from red and white Navajo Sandstone. 

A multi-agency search team found and treated two hikers who were suffering from heat exhaustion. While they were treating those individuals, a passing hiker informed them of an unconscious person nearby. First responders found the 30-year-old woman dead, public safety officials said. 

Her death is being investigated by the Santa Clara-Ivins Public Safety Department. She has not been identified publicly. 

Tourists continue to flock to parks in Utah and other southwestern states during the hottest months of the year, even as officials caution that hiking in extreme heat poses serious health risks. Earlier this month, a Texas man died while hiking at Grand Canyon National Park, where summer temperatures on exposed parts of the trail can reach over 49 degrees Celsius (120 degrees Fahrenheit).