While the 63 national parks spread across all corners of the U.S. attract millions every year for their beauty and unique ecosystems, remote nature also poses countless dangers that those who live in urbanized environments can forget.
Between 2007 and 2024, there have been 4,213 recorded national park deaths. Outside of road accidents, drowning and trips and falls are the most common causes.
On June 9, a park ranger at Washington State’s Olympic National Park found the body of an 18-year-old man “completely submerged [and] pinned between the first and second falls” in the park’s Sol Duc Falls.
After temporarily shutting off the area for an investigation, rescue workers discovered that the visitor was likely walking across the rocks at the top of the falls on June 8 “when he slipped, resurfaced at the bottom of the waterfall, then submerged into the water again.”
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Bodies of two campers inexplicably found at Isle Royale National Park
At Michigan’s Isle Royale, park authorities and the FBI are investigating the deaths of two visitors at a remote campground on June 8.
“The causes of death are unknown at this time,” the NPS said in a statement, adding that “the incident is currently under investigation.”
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An island in the Upper Peninsula Coast of Michigan, Isle Royale spans over 207,000 square miles and is among the most remote national parks in the country. The northern Michigan town from which one can take the three-and-a-half-hour ferry is a six-hour drive from Minneapolis and an eight-hour drive from Detroit.
The large territory and remote nature of the park make it especially difficult to both provide help in emergencies and investigate the cause of any accidents that occur.
While Yellowstone sees significantly higher visitor numbers, the park spanning stretches of Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana poses a very specific kind of danger.
On June 10, a 30-year-old visitor from New Jersey was gored by a bison. He was part of a group visiting the popular Old Faithful Geyser and approached closer than the recommended 25 yards (23 meters).
Incidents of bison goring visitors are periodically recorded at Yellowstone National Park.
Image source: Shutterstock
‘A large group of visitors approached it too closely’
“At approximately 9:45 a.m. in the Upper Geyser Basin at Old Faithful, a man was gored by a bison after a large group of visitors approached it too closely,” the NPS wrote in a statement. “The individual sustained minor injuries and was treated and transported by emergency medical personnel.”
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An earlier incident of a bison goring a park visitor occurred earlier in the year in Yellowstone on May 7. While in both cases the victim got away with minor injuries, the park also sees periodic deaths from visitors who either disregard wildlife distance rules and get too close or are caught off guard when an animal sneaks up on them in a remote area.
“Bison have injured more people in Yellowstone than any other animal,” the NPS page on wildlife safety reads. “[…] Give bison space when they are near a campsite, trail, boardwalk, parking lot, or in a developed area. If need be, turn around and go the other way to avoid interacting with a wild animal in close proximity.”
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