Empty tent leads park rangers to canyoneer killed by 30-foot fall in Death Valley

An empty tent in a Death Valley campsite led park rangers to the body of a 54-year-old man who died in a fall while solo canyoneering, National Park Service rangers reported.

“We recommend that anyone going into the backcountry lets someone know their plans,” said park spokesperson Abby Wines in a Dec. 12 news release. “The park doesn’t track the 1.7 million people that visit each year.”

“This man was not reported overdue, and the search did not start in time to save his life,” Wines said. “A satellite communication device also could have been a lifesaver.”

The search for the missing visitor began after a campground host reported a tent at the site after the reservation had ended, the release said. Rangers left a note at the tent.

The next day, when rangers returned to remove the tent as abandoned equipment, they found climbing gear and a package with a name and address inside, the release said.

Rangers remembered a vehicle parked at Mosaic Canyon trailhead after an earlier rescue, the agency said. A check of the license plates connected it to the person from the tent.

Searchers found the man’s body Dec. 3 in the West Fork route in Mosaic Canyon, where he had been canyoneering alone, the release said.

Canyoneering is a sport in which participants descend canyons by a combination of hiking, climbing and rappelling.

Rangers found the man did not have a long enough rope to reach the bottom of the canyon, and had tied some webbing to the end, the release said.

When he detached his rappel device to bypass the knot, something went wrong and he fell 30 feet to his death, rangers said. An autopsy will determine his exact cause of death. His name has not been released.

There are more than 100 canyoneering routes in Death Valley National Park in California.

Inyo County, the U.S. Navy and California Highway Patrol assisted in the search.