Grand Canyon National Park - Hiking Precautions

The National Park Service have taken to issuing advisory notices 'closing' some of the trails in especially hot weather to try and reduce the number of casualties - apparently up to 20 people per day during the summer require treatment for heat exhaustion at the Havasupai Gardens (on the Bright Angel Trail) and Phantom Ranch (by the river) ranger stations. Besides lack of water, the biggest problems are hikers overestimating their ability and going too far down, and people straying too close to steep cliff edges. It is particularly recommended not to hike to the river and back in one day.

On the other hand, some people do overestimate the difficulties and come equipped with ski poles and all manner of mountain climbing equipment for a walk down some of the maintained trails; they also tend to travel very slowly. Some of the Park Service warnings too are a bit excessive; I walked down the South Kaibab Trail to the Colorado and back (13 miles during the day in summer), which took 6.5 hours; on the return journey I met two US 16-year olds also returning who had previously descended down the Bright Angel Trail, making a 15 mile round trip for them. So if you are fit and well-prepared there should be no problems.

But for an in depth look at what can go wrong, the definitive account is 'Over the Edge: Death in Grand Canyon' by Ghiglieri and Myers, published by Puma Press in 2001. This 408 page book describes all known deaths in the canyon from the explorations of John Wesley Powell in 1869 to the present day; 550 cases in all, ranging from accidents specific to the park - falls, drownings, heat stroke and flash floods, to coincidental mishaps like murder, suicide and plane crashes. The book is more than a simple narrative, as it includes reasons for specific accidents, and much advice on safe travel in the canyon.