Four dead in a week: Heat leads to tragedies in state and national parks

Belyruth Ordóñez was an avid hiker.

Over the past few summers, the 30-year-old and her parents had traveled to parks around Utah, where they lived, to hit the trails together.

But on Saturday, the heat proved too severe and tragedy struck. Temperatures in Utah's Snow Canyon State Park climbed above 100 degrees F, and Ordóñez was found dead there, apparently overwhelmed by the extreme conditions. 

Her parents, Humbelina and Dario Ordóñez, were found near her and both hospitalized with heat exhaustion. They remain in critical condition. 

“They don’t know yet their daughter passed away,” said Melanie Penaloza, a close friend of Belyruth's.

“It’s shocking knowing she passed away hiking, because she loved doing that,” Penaloza added.

Belyruth Ordóñez, right, with her parents.Courtesy Marlon Olaya

Ordóñez' death is one of four heat-related fatalities reported at state and national parks already this month. The day before she was found, authorities discovered the bodies of Albino Herrera Espinoza, 52, and his daughter Beatriz Herrera, 23, at Canyonlands National Park in Utah. 

The Wisconsin residents had gotten lost hiking the Syncline Loop Trail and ran out of water, according to the San Juan County Sheriff’s office. Relatives of the Herreras could not be reached for comment.

Earlier this month, six motorcyclists from Germany were overwhelmed by heat at Death Valley National Park in California.

Other visitors found the group on July 6 and took all but one man to the park’s visitor center. The man who remained, Jurgen Fink, 61, was later pronounced dead by park officials, according to park spokesperson Abby Wines.

One of the motorcyclists had to be taken by ambulance to Desert View Hospital, more than 60 miles away. Wines said it was too dangerous for rescue helicopters to fly that day because of the extreme temperatures, which reached 128 degrees.

And three deaths at Grand Canyon National Park in the last five weeks are under investigation, with heat considered a likely factor.

A hiking trip for 'family bonding'

Heat causes more deaths than any other type of extreme weather, and it's becoming increasingly fatal both in parks and elsewhere as climate change make heat waves more frequent and severe. Parts of the Southwest just endured their hottest June on record. Maricopa County, Arizona, where Phoenix is, has already tallied more than 300 deaths suspected to be heat-related this year.

Although heat deaths are reported on public land every year — 77 deaths from hyperthermia were recorded in national parks from 2007 to 2023, according to an NBC News analysis — the numbers appear to be trending above average early this summer.

“Seeing we have more and more deaths is sort of an indication way more people suffer in their daily life with the heat,” said Floris Wardenaar, an assistant professor in nutrition at the College of Health Solutions at Arizona State University and an expert on heat exposure and recreation.

Early summer heat, in particular, can surprise people, he said. “They’re not adapted to it yet.”

The National Park Service does not close parks when extreme temperatures strike, focusing instead on broadcasting forecasts, alerting visitors to weather hazards and encouraging them to dial back plans, like hiking during cooler parts of the day.

"Our stance is to empower visitors to make the right decisions when planning their trip and pick the right activity based on skill and experience," said Cynthia Hernandez, a National Park Service spokesperson. "Park managers may close a specific area, like a trail that doesn't have a lot of shade, or post more notices."

"The vast majority of people who visit parks are able to make it home safe, and part of the excitement for a lot of people visiting parks is the adventure," Hernandez added.

People brave the heat before sunset on July 9 in Death Valley National Park.Mario Tama / Getty Images

However, as record high temperatures hit parks, the margin of safety can be vanishingly thin.

Marlon Olaya, a friend of the Ordóñezes, said the tight-knit family from Peru lived in Orem, Utah, and were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The family had hiked together at Snow Canyon before, he said.

“It’s very heartbreaking,” Olaya said. “The intention was to have a family bonding moment.”

Olaya described Belyruth as “humble and kind.”

“She was always a very loving person,” he said. “It’s really sad to see someone like that go.”

An only child, Belyruth adored her parents, Olaya added: “She always made it clear — her parents were her heroes.”

Olaya said both parents had awoken from comas by Wednesday.

The two have fuzzy memories, Penaloza said, and Dario Ordóñez is on dialysis with struggling kidneys.

"We're praying so hard they recover," she said. "They are confusing past and present, and don’t remember exactly what happened."

'It will be warmer on the trail than you expect'

An analysis of temperatures from July 5 to 7 in the western U.S. suggests that temperatures were more than 7 degrees F higher than heat waves of the past. The research, by scientists with Climameter, found that both climate change and natural variability played a role in boosting the heat.

On park trails, conditions can often wind up quite different from estimates on weather applications, Wardenaar said.

“Likely it will be warmer on the trail than you expect,” he said. “We have been doing studies with different surfaces here in Arizona and especially where there’s a lot of rock and not a lot of shade, the radiation of the rock can go up during the day and therefore you will generate much more heat in your body.”

That may have been a factor in the three deaths at Grand Canyon National Park.

Two of those hikers — a 41-year-old man found unresponsive on the park's Bright Angel trail in June, and a 50-year-old Texas man found near the same trailhead on July 7 — have not been publicly identified.

The third was Scott Sims, 69, of Austin, Texas, who was found “semiconscious" on the River Trail on June 29, according to the park service.

In the summer, temperatures on exposed parts of that trail can reach over 120 degrees in the shade.

A spokesperson for Grand Canyon National Park said it had been under an excessive heat warning until July 12. In a statement, the park service said visitors are urged to refrain from hiking from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

“If you are hot, cool off by getting wet in creeks and at water stations. Pay attention to warnings and signs in the canyon," the statement said. "Always pack a method of water filtration. If you heed warnings, you can have an enjoyable hike instead of a life-threatening misadventure.”

Wardenaar suggested that in hot conditions, hikers should carry 32 ounces of water for every hour of hiking planned, and should turn around before half of their water is depleted.

Sims' relatives could not be reached for comment, but a woman named Jessica Ryan identified Sims as her uncle in a post on Facebook and said she had been hiking with him prior to his death.

“There are no words for the events that transpired and the emotions we are feeling right now. It’s not only what you see in movies. The most beautiful places are unforgiving. Be prepared. Don’t underestimate nature,” she wrote.