By the time the young Grand Canyon hiker came under Dr. Tom Myers’ care, she was in bad shape. Like, may-not-make-it shape.
She had consumed too much water, way too much, on her journey and was suffering from hyponatremia. Brain swelling, seizures, coma. She survived, but spent about a week in the hospital. Not exactly a trip to remember.
“The thing is,” Myers said, “she blew right past the (trailhead) signs.”
Those were signs that Myers and National Park Service employees had posted warning people heading down the canyon for day hikes or multi-day trips that there can be as much danger in drinking too much water as not enough. Either the young woman didn’t see the signs or ignored the admonition. In any event, it nearly cut short her life.
“If we hadn’t reached them by the time we get to the trailhead, we aren’t going to reach them,” said Myers, a physician at the Grand Canyon Clinic since 1990. “They’ve already got an agenda. They’re focused. Maybe pretty nervous, kind of intimidated, but they want to get going. They don’t want to stop and look at a sign and say, ‘Oh, we didn’t even think about that.’ Even with the signs, we haven’t been able to reach them like I’ve wanted to. It’s the same old problems, just new faces.”
To educate the public, even those who don’t consider themselves novices, about safety measures to take before and during a sojourn into the canyon, Myers and the Grand Canyon Conservancy have just published a glossy booklet bluntly titled “How Not to Die at Grand Canyon,” available at the canyon gift shops and outdoors stores in Flagstaff.
The title pretty much says it all. In simple prose, featuring easy-to-read lists and graphics, Myers lists all the ways people can succumb, what to do to prevent such an outcome and, should problems happen en route, how to deal with the problem in situ. The booklet’s divided into “Common causes” (heat illness, traumatic falls, drowning, heart attack, flash floods and cold exposure) and “less common” (lightning strikes, falling rocks, hyponatremia, hantavirus, sacred datura poisoning and rattlesnake/scorpion bites).
If the title seems a tad alarmist, well, that’s the way Myers intended it. For too many years, he’s seen too many cases — and deaths — that could have been prevented with a little knowledge and common sense. So “How Not to Die at Grand Canyon” is meant to shock people into recognizing the dangers.
Myers, more than most, knows what’s at stake. He not only treats victims, he co-authored with Michael Ghiglieri the best-selling book, “Over the Edge: Death in Grand Canyon,” first published in 2002 and expanded in 2012. (Yes, the pair is working on a third edition, slated for 2021, because death stops for no one at the canyon.)
“Even Michael told me, ‘Hey, that title’s a little harsh,'” Myers said. “I’m like, ‘Really, this coming from a guy who co-authored ‘Death in Grand Canyon’? This isn’t a companion (booklet). This is something to keep (people) out of the damn book. You’ve got to get their attention. I’m hoping it’ll be really simple for people. Dumb it down and get their attention.”
“Over the Edge” is an encyclopedic compendium of every death ever recorded in the national park, an absolute litany of bad decision-making by visitors. Call the new booklet, then, a corrective.
By far the most dangerous aspects of Grand Canyon excursions, especially this time of year, is heat illness. Myers knows he’s not breaking any new ground in this tips (avoid hiking in the hot months; avoid the hottest times of the day, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; bring adequate water), but he said the guidelines for consuming liquids need repeating.
The biggest takeaway: “Drink only when thirsty, and stop when thirst is quenched; do not overdrink … wet down torso, neck and head to keep your body cool. … Stop, rest and eat a salty snack often.” And, as for the obverse (hyponatremia, or water intoxication), it explains how overdrinking leads to dangerous drops in blood sodium, which can be as deadly as dehydration. “You are,” he writes, “10 times more likely to be hospitalized for hyponatremia than for heatstroke.”
As for “traumatic falls,” the second-most common cause of death in the canyon, Myers points out the stuff everyone learned in grade school: stay on trails; avoid exposed cliffs, don’t climb above skill level. Yet, he knows that, every year, several visitors plunge into the abyss trying to get that perfect photograph for their social media page.
“Those are the dumb things easily avoided,” he said.
What Myers considers more subtly lethal is drowning in the Colorado River. Those deaths take up an entire 76-page chapter, called “The Killer Colorado” in “Over the Edge.”
“People are way too unintimidated by the Colorado River,” he said, “and they want to just dive into that ice-cold water. They don’t understand how swift the current is and how that cold water — the cold-shock phenomenon — increases the risk of dying from drowning or heart attack. People say, ‘But I’m a great swimmer.’ Those are famous last words, like, ‘I’m an experienced hiker.’”
Lessons learned
The simple command to hikers to stick to the designated trails is not just to preserve the ecosystem; it can save lives. Myers and Ghiglieri’s book is chock-full of awful stories of bad things that happen to people who stray from the proven path.
“Short-cutting is one of the mother of all errors,” he said. “It usually doesn’t end well, especially for people who are novice and not into route-finding. They underestimate the wilderness and overestimate their ability.”
Myers hastens to add that it’s not just novices that need to be vigilant. Experienced hikers and canyon explorers have succumbed, as well. Perhaps the most noteworthy was Bill Ott, a river ranger, nurse and the first person to walk the entire distance below the canyon's rim, from Lees Ferry to Lake Mead, mostly solo.
In 2012, he set off on a solo sojourn to a remote area on Hualapai land west of the park.
He was never heard from again.
“I can’t tell you how many conversations I’ve had with friends about his disappearance,” Myers said. “He was so knowledgeable and savvy about all the hazards. When he went in there — here’s the most likely scenario — he took a calculated gamble. That’s a lot of the appeal of hiking in a desert canyon: that you know what so much hinges on finding water. A pot of water is like finding gold at the end of a rainbow. To find it is so exciting that it’s addicting. But it’s also risky. You’re banking your life, perhaps, on finding it, and if it’s not there ... Bill may have underestimated.”
Most victims are not solo adventurers such as Ott. Which is why “How Not to Die at Grand Canyon” — which can fold easily into one’s pocket and is water-proof — might be worth the extra gram or two in your pack before setting off from the south or north rims.
