FOX 13 Investigates: Hikers pay deadly price on Zion's Angels Landing trail

angel's landing is one of those bucketless hikes that folks want to do there's way too many people getting on this trail my son was way too young to die 13 people hiking the angels landing trail in zion national park have fallen to their deaths just since 2000 that's according to a count compiled by fox 13 news two hikers have died in just the last month fox 13 news investigative reporter nate carlisle reviewed dozens of national park service records and asked what can be done about the deadliest trail in utah the trail to angel's landing isn't that long or steep by hiking standards the route most people take is a five mile round trip that elevates fifteen hundred feet but as this graphic shows much of the trail is on a cliff leading to the plateau that is the angel's landing it's a trail 42 year old corbin mcmillan knew he loved zion he'd done angel's landing twice before mcmillan moved from california to saint george utah three years ago to help with his father who is on hospice care margie baroness mcmillan's mother when home health aides would come over to help care for her husband macmillan would use the opportunity to go hiking i think he liked angel's landing because it was a gave him some adrenaline [Music] this is a report we obtained from the park service through the freedom of information act it's about someone who fell to his death from angel's landing the number of these reports is increasing as will visitation to zion national park as the sprint arrives and the pandemic ends so do hikers have to just keep falling from one of the most scenic trails in the world we asked experts in outdoor recreation what's going wrong if it's not the most dangerous trail in america it's one of the top five travis hegge is an associate professor at bowling green state university who studies deaths in the national park system he also used to work in risk management for the park service well you're winding um you're going back and forth you know you're zigzagging you're climbing over some difficult rock angel's landing is one of those bucket list hikes that folks want to do jeff rose is a professor of outdoor recreation studies at the university of utah we showed rose and heggy the government reports and photos we obtained the professors noticed some interesting trends the trail's best known stretch is a narrow section where the park service has installed a chain handrail but that's not where hikers are dying folks who are falling either before the chain section or after the chain section and 44 of the falls happened at the top rose said the data indicates hikers are getting too close to the edges i'm a six foot person i encourage uh folks to kind of follow that rule don't get within six feet of of the edge where you could fall and potentially lose life or limb peggy noticed many of the people who fell were hiking alone or like a 13 year old girl from colorado city arizona who died in 2018 got separated from their group don't leave children alone on that trail of the 13 people who have fallen to their deaths from angels landing since 2000 most of them were men and most were visiting from other states or countries visitation at zion national park has doubled over the past 30 years reaching almost four and a half million people in 2019 this most recent january and february set visitor records anyone that passes through zion's gates are free to hike to angel's landing without any permit or special instruction rangers do not routinely staff the trail one fatality report from 2017 noted that the trail was averaging 641 visitors per day i would really recommend to the national park service that they take this trail and they start using a permit system because there's way too many people getting on this trail and there's way too many inexperienced people getting on this trail the national park service is liable for a lot of these incidents that happen on the park in light that they are aware of the risks why not close angel's landing trail altogether i have no problem with that the park service warns on zion's website and in signage at the trailhead that the hike's deep drops have killed people rose favors increasing the education for hikers he's also open to limiting the number of people hiking the trail he warns that could increase traffic elsewhere in zion what rose doesn't want is more railing on the trail he says that would detract from the natural setting one of the reasons that we that we appreciate these spaces is because they allow a chance for contemplative leisure where we can think about bigger issues bigger than ourselves or bigger than society and things like that baron would like rangers on the trail to enforce safety rules and keep an eye on hikers she thinks her son had already reached angel's landing and was on the return on february 19th she's been told by park staff and the sheriff's office that macmillan had left the trail perhaps to look around macmillan didn't take his coat with him his mother wonders if he developed hypothermia and got disoriented no one saw him fall they called and said we've located him and and identified him i started wailing and just said oh my boy my boy he fell 1200 feet after his memorial service macmillan's family gathered for this photo underneath the spot on the trail where he fell i didn't know until my son passed how many people [Music] have died at angel's landing my son was way too young to die in salt lake city i'm nate carlyle fox 13 news utah representatives of the national park service did not comment for this story if you have questions about tonight's investigation nate will be logging on to the fox 13 facebook page live in just a few minutes to answer as many of your questions as possible and if you have a story you would like the fox 13 investigates team to look into send an email to i-team fox13now.com or call the tip line the number is 801-536-1314

Channel: FOX 13 News Utah

Views: 858,309

Keywords: fox 13 investigates, investigates, investigation

Id: UvJ2puG8gNI

Length: 6min 25sec (385 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 16 2021