Most Common Ways To Die In A National Park

Above, Grand Canyon National Park is known for a high number of deaths from falls. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

In recent months, I have been noticing news stories of people getting killed in national parks. The ones that seem to lead in numbers are falls.

Just what are the leading causes of deaths in the national parks?

RV Travel has posted an article on just this subject.

The article begins with:

My husband and I are ticking off National Parks and National Monuments from my bucket list and taking tons of pictures. When our car was too close to a buffalo on the side of the road at Theodore Roosevelt National Park and the massive bull turned to look my husband in the eye, I started wondering how many people die in the National Parks. Particularly how many die from stupidly being too close to the wildlife!

Turns out that even though the National Parks have millions of visitors each year, there is a relatively low death rate. Over an 11-year span (2007 to 2018), 2,727 people died within National Park boundaries. That breaks down to eight deaths per 10 million visitors. Wild animal attacks from grizzly bears, buffalo, and poisonous snakes all come to mind first, and yet they are the lowest on the list of possible ways to die in our National Parks.

To see what the leading causes of deaths are, go here.