Dangerous National Parks

[David C Gibbs]

According to a post on the Smarter Travel web page; these are the 10 most dangerous National Parks, based on Search & Rescue data. We added our tenth, last year with a trip to Olympic National Park.
1. Grand Canyon National Park
2. Yosemite National Park
3. Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park
4. Yellowstone National Park
5. Rocky Mountain National Park
6. Zion National Park
7. Glen Canyon National Recreation Area
8. Grand Teton National Park
9. Olympic National Park
10. Arches National Park

How many OB's have been to all ten?

DCG

 

[Coreymol]

According to a post on the Smarter Travel web page; these are the 10 most dangerous National Parks, based on Search & Rescue. We added our tenth, last year with a trip to Olympic National Park.
1. Grand Canyon National Park
2. Yosemite National Park
3. Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park
4. Yellowstone National Park
5. Rocky Mountain National Park
6. Zion National Park
7. Glen Canyon National Recreation Area
8. Grand Teton National Park
9. Olympic National Park
10. Arches National Park

How many OB's have been to all ten?

DCG

been to 7

 

[DaJudge]

been to 9

 

[Tundracamper]

Been to 6. What do they mean by “most dangerous?” I suspect far more people die in their homes each year than in all of the national parks, combined.

 

[ThundahBeagle]

2 to 3 (I drove BY Rocky Mtn. NP)...I gotta get out more...

 

[Sylvester]

What makes them "MOST" Dangerous

1. Grand Canyon National Park



6. Zion National Park
7. Glen Canyon National Recreation Area

9. Olympic National Park
10. Arches National Park

 

[grubworm]

makes one wonder....

is a canyon that has been sitting there minding its own business for millions of years "dangerous"?

OR...

are the people getting hurt there just really stupid?
all those years of evolution and people really are dumber than rocks!

 

[Anak]

If you were to assemble a list of National Parks ranked by numbers of visitors per year I suspect it would correlate well with a list of the parks ranked by danger.

I just try to stay away from people.

 

[Anak]

Hmm...

Another thought about those parks: Those are all in the west.

I wonder who are the victims? Folks from the east perhaps?

Could it be that street smarts are of no use whatsoever once some folks leave the safety of their cities?

 

[ZombieCat]

10/10…
As for being dangerous, I agree that popularity equals more visitors, equals more mishaps. Topography and climate also contribute. Grand Canyon and other desert parks see a LOT of heat-related issues - dehydration, hypernatremia, heatstroke. Visitors to mountainous parks overestimate their abilities in tough terrain, fall down, break bones, get too close to wildlife, suffer from altitude sickness, or have other medical emergencies. Some are just victims of the social media flu and fall off overlooks while framing that perfect Insta-pic. Ouch!
These parks, and all of our protected lands, are truly national treasures. Do a bit of research, know the hazards and prepare appropriately. Leave the bubble wrap behind and have fun!

 

[Sparksalot]

Two legged varmints, four legged varmints, or falling off mountains dangers?

 

[Wellspring]

In a cyncial word, it's a "culling of the herd".......

 

[Anak]

In a cyncial word, it's a "culling of the herd".......

The gene pool needs a bit of chlorine every now and then.

 

[Tundracamper]

Perhaps the article should be retitled National Parks ranked by most number of unprepared visitors or stupid visitors. As noted above, these are all out west - so there should be a correlation:)

 

[SS308]

I do know that bear attacks have increased, stupidity and otherwise...

 

[fstfrd00]

Been to yosemite and grand teton

 

[MOAK]

8 of 10, with not much of any desire to visit the human infested others. Wait- does going out to Kelly Point Overlook count? It should as we were within park boundary- so 9 of 10. BTW, the reason so many are out west is, duh, because there are just 11 national parks east of the Mississippi. The other 51 are out west.

 

[Elzevir]

Context is key as everyone is pointing out. For reference, the article is based on the number of times SAR was called to look for someone. I only looked at Grand Canyon's numbers because it shows how click-baity the article was. The SAR numbers for Grand Canyon NP were 785 calls from 2018-2020 (3 years). In that time frame that specific park saw 15,250,000 guests. That incidence is 0.0005%

And they did total numbers, not percentage based. Obviously if you have more guests you are more likely to have more problems.

 

[Anak]

Perhaps the article should be retitled National Parks ranked by most number of unprepared visitors or stupid visitors. As noted above, these are all out west - so there should be a correlation:)

So very true.

I was at a conference where the keynote speaker was an Oklahoma native, presenting to a bunch of us Kalifornians. The speaker noted that back in the '30s a bunch of folks packed up and moved from Oklahoma to Kalifornia (overlanders?), thereby increasing the average IQ in both places simultaneously.

Being that my grandfather brought his family (my father included) to Kalifornia from Oklahoma, I have no doubt where I stand in that scenario.

 

[grubworm]

i wish south louisiana had a national park...we could REALLY get those number up!!!