THE DESERT HEAT IS DEADLY

Two female hikers die in blistering 114F heat after going for a walk in Valley of Fire State Park as temperatures continue to soar

 

By Miriam Kuepper 

 

Daily Mail

July 24, 2023

 

 

Nevada State Police was called by a group of hikers after the women failed to return from a hike in the park 65 miles north of Las Vegas on July 22

 

Two female hikers have died in the blistering 114F heat after going for a walk in the Valley of Fire State Park.

Nevada State Police was called by a group of hikers after the women failed to return from a hike in the park 65 miles north of Las Vegas on July 22. 

The south of Nevada is still under an extreme heat warning after temperatures reached 114F on Saturday when the hikers went missing.

Officers arrived at 2.48pm that afternoon and requested a search and rescue team from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, which found one woman dead on the trail and the other in a canyon, according to KLAS-TV.

The state police has not released any other details about the incident, including the women's identities and their cause of death, but the investigation remains ongoing.

 

The south of Nevada is still under an extreme heat warning after temperatures reached 114F on Saturday when the hikers went missing 

 

Their deaths come after five other hikers have died in US national parks in extreme heat since June 1. 

No previous year had this many suspected heat-related deaths in national parks in the same time. The deadliest month for heat in parks is yet to come with August, according to CNN.

While all seven deaths are still being investigated, all hikers died in temperatures exceeding 100F in one of four state parks: Valley of Fire, Grand Canyon, Big Bend and Death Valley.

On June 1, a 65-year-old man died hiking in Texas's Big Bend. 

A boy, 14, died on a trail in the same national park in 119F heat and his stepfather died in a car accident on the same day while he was trying to get help for his stepson.

 

Seven people died in four national parks since June 1. Two in the Death Valley (one of whom is Steve Curry, who died on July 18), two in the Valley of Fire, one in the Grand Canyon (Melanie Hamling, who died on July 2) and two in the Big Bend National Park.

Melanie Hamling, 57, died on July 2 when she went for an eight-mile hike in the Grand Canyon

Hamling, whose identity was confirmed by park authorities, was hiking with a friend near the Tuweep area of the park

 

On July 2, Melanie Hamling, 57, fell unconscious and died while she was hiking in the Grand Canyon with a friend.

Her partner, Russ James, shared the sad news on social media, writing: 'My best friend, partner, and all-around amazing human, Melanie Staples Hamling passed away Sunday from heat exhaustion during a hike in the grand canyon.

'I am heart-broken, lost, and unsure how to go on without her. She was so kind and befriended everybody she met. There are no words.' 

A day later, on July 3, a 65-year-old man was found dead in his car on the side of the road in the Death Valley National Park, with rangers suspecting he died of the heat which reached 126F that day.

Just last week, on July 18, 71-year-old hiker Steve Curry collapsed and died outside a restroom in California's Death Valley after hiking a nearby trail.

Curry was an experienced hiker and died just hours after he answered an LA Times reporter's question why he was hiking in the extreme heat of 121F with 'Why not?'. 

 

Just last week, on July 18, 71-year-old hiker Steve Curry collapsed and died outside a restroom in California's Death Valley after hiking a nearby trail

Curry was an experienced hiker and died just hours after he answered an LA Times reporter 's question why he was hiking in the extreme heat of 121F with 'Why not?'