Death Valley tourist dies after telling reporter he was determined to complete hike
His wife said she had tried to dissuade him from going to Death Valley when it was so hot.
A man collapsed and died in Death Valley shortly after telling a newspaper reporter he was determined to finish his hike despite temperatures near 120 degrees.
Steve Curry, 71, of the Sunland neighborhood of Los Angeles, did complete his round-trip hike Tuesday from Golden Canyon to Zabriskie Point — a loop of about 6 miles — but then collapsed outside a restroom at the trailhead, park officials said.
Rangers alerted by a 911 call at 3:40 p.m. arrived at Golden Canyon within seven minutes and tried unsuccessfully to resuscitate Curry. A medical helicopter could not respond because of the high temperature, said a park news release on Thursday.
A cause of death had not been determined by the Inyo County coroner, but heat is thought to have been a factor. The high on Tuesday, July 18, at Furnace Creek was 121 degrees, and rangers said heat reflecting off Golden Canyon’s walls made the temperature on that trail much higher.
Around 10 a.m., Curry had spoken with the Los Angeles Times’ Francine Orr, who photographed him slathered in sunscreen and sheltering from the sun under an interpretive sign at the Zabriskie Point overlook. He said it had taken him two hours to reach that point, but he declined offers of assistance for his return to the trailhead.
Curry’s death came two weeks after that of a 65-year-old San Diego man who had been driving on the park’s North Highway. Heat is also thought to have been a factor in that death.
Curry was a retired electrician and avid hiker, his widow told the Los Angeles Times. She said she had tried to dissuade him from going to Death Valley when it was so hot, but that he didn’t reveal his destination when he took off Monday, July 17, on what she thought would be a day trip.
Death Valley rangers advise that summer visitors complete any hikes in the park’s lower elevations before 10 a.m., and a sign at the entrance to Golden Canyon displays that warning.