A 41-year-old man died Sunday in the Grand Canyon while hiking on the Bright Angel Trail, according to the National Park Service.
At around 6:45 a.m., the Grand Canyon Regional Communications Center received a report of an unresponsive man about half a mile from the Pipe Creek River Resthouse. Bystanders and NPS authorities attempted life-saving measures but were unable to resuscitate him.
Officials say he had stayed overnight at the Bright Angel Campground near Phantom Ranch and was hiking out of the canyon when he was found unresponsive.
The cause of the 41-year-old’s death is under investigation at this time. His identity has not been released.
Bright Angel Trail is the most popular hiking trail in the Grand Canyon, according to the NPS. The website says the trail is “fairly easy to walk down,” which can be a challenge later on if hikers lose track of how far they descended. NPS says it’s much more difficult to hike back out of the canyon and takes twice as long as the initial descent.
The NPS website says the trail to the campground is about 9.3 miles long and takes 4 to 5 hours to descend and 7 to 10 hours to get back out.