May 29, 2026

Over 200 Deaths Reported in U.S. National Parks

By J. Thomas Wade
Blue RAM Media/Gulf Coast News

May 29, 2026

WASHINTON, D.C.

Each year, dozens of people die while visiting our national parks and even more die in our local state parks.

The lure of the outdoors, with beautiful mountain views, vast open ranges, seashores, lakes, and beautiful forests for camping, hiking and just being still, our parks offer something for everyone.

But they can also be dangerous including the many wild animals, venomous snakes, and the dangers of climbing, swimming, and so many pitfalls of being outdoors.

The US Park Service reported that in 2025, more than 323 million recreational visitors entered our national parks, but unfortunately, many visitors didn’t make it out alive.

The National Park Service reported that over 200 deaths were reported across the park system with a wide array of causes.

In 2024, there were 190 deaths in our national parks.

There were medical emergencies that caused deaths, vehicle accidents, some involving animals, drowning, and undetermined deaths that topped the list.

In recent years, there have also been homicides and suicides in the parks.

In August, a 24-year-old man died after the vehicle he was driving struck a moose in Denali National Park.

A motorcyclist died on the Blue Ridge Parkway, the most visited national site in 2025, after hitting a deer.

Some visitors have died from natural causes, heart attacks and from falling down from high locations including Denali,

In Denali, a 41-year-old ski mountaineer was found dead after falling 3,000 feet from a climbing route along Mount McKinley. A 42-year-old fell from a “steep, off-trail climbing route” along Mount Gould in Glacier National Park. An 18-year-old died after slipping and falling down a 50-foot waterfall in Olympic National Park.

But, according to the NPS, Lake Mead National Recreation Area saw the most reported deaths in 2025 at 18. The park has recorded roughly 380 deaths since 2007, NPS shows. That’s the most across any national park, and about 150 more than Grand Canyon National Park’s 227.

The NPS sites with the highest number of recorded deaths in 2025 were:

Lake Mead: 18

Blue Ridge Parkway: 13

Natchez Trace Parkway: 11

Great Smoky Mountains: 10

Yosemite: 9

Other national parks that recorded at least one death in 2025 include popular spots like Zion, Arches, Acadia, Badlands, Indiana Dunes, Death Valley, Hawai’i Volcanoes, Grand Canyon, Grand Teton, and Sequoia — all of which experienced more than 1 million recreational visits last year.

With 323 million annual visitors, one might expect hundreds of deaths from every possible way imaginable but the National Park Rangers and park staff, continuously monitor the safety of the parks, the visitors and the animals, ensuring that everyone and everything live in harmony and are enjoying the parks as safely as possible.