Hikers die in ‘rushing wall of water’ after flood carries them miles down Utah canyon
Two hikers were found dead after flash flooding carried them down a Utah canyon for miles, a sheriff’s office said.
The Kane County Sheriff’s Office said it received a call on Sunday, May 21, about a group hiking in the Paria River on their way to Lee’s Ferry when they found a dead man in the canyon.
The group said they found the man “south of the junction of the Paria River and Buckskin Gulch and about a half mile into Arizona,” deputies said.
Arizona authorities joined the recovery efforts, along with the sheriff’s office and Utah Department of Public Safety, deputies said.
The man had no identification on him, so deputies said they began looking at vehicles on different trailheads to determine who he was.
The next day, the sheriff’s office said it got a call about two overdue hikers from an Ohio police department.
The mens’ families said they had not spoken to the men since Saturday afternoon, the sheriff’s office said. The men intended “to hike about five miles into Wire Pass and the Buckskin Gulch.”
Photos from the family confirmed the man found dead in Paria was Gary York, 65, from West Chester Township, deputies said.
Search and rescue teams began combing the Buckskin Gulch area to find the other missing man, John Walter, 72, of Kettering, the sheriff’s office said.
While searching “downstream towards the junction with the Paria River,” deputies said search crews found Ketering’s body.
The sheriff’s office said investigation showed that while the men were hiking, they “were caught by surprise and swept away by the rushing wall of water.”
York was carried nearly 10 miles down the canyon, while Walters was carried between 7 to 8 miles, deputies said.
“Again, we have witnessed the relentless power and danger of flash flooding in Kane County’s slot canyons,” the sheriff’s office said.
In March, two Florida men also died from flooding in the same canyon.
Buckskin Gulch is a popular 16-mile hike through towering sandstone walls near the Utah-Arizona border, according to the Bureau of Land Management
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