Hiker Steve Curry dies at Death Valley National Park amid extreme heat

A 71-year-old man hiking Death Valley National Park on Tuesday was interviewed about the sweltering temperatures gripping the region hours before his suspected heat-related death.

Steve Curry, of Los Angeles, passed out Tuesday afternoon while visiting Death Valley National Park in California where temperatures reached 120 degrees, the National Park Service and sheriff officials said.

Curry collapsed outside a restroom at Golden Canyon trailhead before 3:45 p.m. He was pronounced dead at the scene despite first responders giving him CPR and using an automated external defibrillator, officials said.

The Inyo County Coroner’s Office has yet to determine a cause of death, but park rangers believe heat was a factor.

Hours before he died, Curry spoke to the Los Angeles Times about the punishing weather conditions, noting “it’s a dry heat.”

He also said “everything is hot here” and was pictured with plenty of sunscreen and a sun hat hiding underneath a metal interpretative sign that offered some shade.

Curry hiked from Golden Canyon to Zabrieski Point early Tuesday morning, the newspaper reported.

His death was one of three fatalities at separate national parks this week as tragedies continue to be part of a deadly summer on the federal grounds.

While the official temperature was about 121 degrees at nearby Furnace Creek around the time of his death, actual temperatures inside Golden Canyon were likely much hotter because canyon walls radiate the sun’s blistering heat.

“According to the National Weather Service, Death Valley has experienced 28 days of temperatures in excess of 110 degrees this year,” the National Park Service said. “Heat stroke sets in when the body’s core temperature rises above 104 degrees.”

The day before, a 51-year-old Louisiana man was found unresponsive by other hikers in Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado about a mile from the Mount Ida Trailhead, officials said.

The visitors who found him performed CPR on him, and then park rangers also tried to resuscitate the man, the park service said.

The man was later pronounced dead. The cause of death has not yet been determined.

 “As is standard protocol the incident is under investigation,” the park service said.

Also on Monday, 15-year-old boy died at Kenai Fjords National Park in Alaska, officials said.

Bystanders and first responders tried to revive him near Harding Icefield Trail, but the teen did not survive. A probe into his death is underway. 

The three recent deaths are among several at national parks this summer, including previous fatalities at Death Valley and Rocky Mountain parks.

A 65-year-old parkgoer in Death Valley National Park was discovered dead inside his vehicle with two flat tires amid unforgiving heat in early July. The San Diego man was driving in a sedan that didn’t have working air conditioning before he passed out.

A 26-year-old Colorado woman plunged 500 feet to her death while free-solo climbing Four Aces of Blitzen Ridge at Rocky Mountain National Park earlier this month.

The adventurous climber, identified as Bailee Mulholland, was remembered as “a force to be reckoned with” by friends.

A week before Mulholland’s fatal climbing trip, 24-year-old Las Vegas man Luis Monteiro was killed when he fell off the edge of a waterfall at Rocky Mountain and was sucked underwater. His cause of death was drowning.

Other national park tragedies include a 57-year-old woman who died while hiking in brutal heat at the Grand Canyon this month and a Florida father and teen stepson who both died while visiting Big Bend National Park in Texas last month.