9 Disturbing Park Ranger Encounters in the Grand Canyon You've Never Heard

📕 Stay Found, my field guide for anyone who heads outdoors: what to carry, what to leave on the kitchen table, and what to do in the first hour if somebody doesn't come back → https://stayfoundbook.com Christmas morning, 1928. A honeymoon boat floats upright in a calm pool deep in the Grand Canyon. The food, the books and the diaries are still aboard. Nobody on board. Nine real Grand Canyon cases, told by a retired search and rescue ranger, from the top of the canyon to the bottom: two in the sky above it, three on the walls below the rim, four on the river, from upstream down. I'm Cliff Hollis. Thirty-two seasons as a backcountry ranger in the mountain West, the last fifteen running search and rescue. Grand Canyon was never my ground. I know it from paper, and the paper for every case is linked below. FROM THE SKY TO THE RIVER IN THE SKY 9. THREE PARACHUTES, 1944 Where: 24,000 feet up, then the Tonto level south of Point Sublime. Source: NPS, "World War II Plane Crashes in National Parks" https://home.nps.gov/articles/wwiiplanecrashes.htm Also: Grand Canyon Pioneers Society, The Bulletin, 1992. 8. TWA FLIGHT 2 AND UNITED 718, 1956 Where: over the eastern canyon, then Temple Butte and Chuar Butte, near the Little Colorado. Source: FAA Lessons Learned https://www.faa.gov/lessons_learned/transport_airplane/accidents/N6902C Also: NPS National Historic Landmark nomination, 2011 (redacted copy). ON THE WALLS 7. MARTIN O'CONNOR, NEW HANCE TRAIL, 2019 Where: about three miles down, near 4,000 feet, under an overhang. Source: NPS release, January 2, 2020 https://www.nps.gov/grca/learn/news/missing-man-from-texas-found-alive-at-grca-2020-01-02.htm 6. RALPH NASSER-EDDIN, HERMIT CAMP, 2017 Where: Hermit Camp, then the Tonto Platform, roughly three miles off. Source: NPS release, June 2017 https://www.nps.gov/grca/learn/news/missing-hiker-grand-canyon.htm Also: AP and KNAU, December 22, 2017. 5. BRYCE GILLIES, THUNDER RIVER LOOP, 2009 Where: the Esplanade, then a pour-off over 100 feet high on Bonita Creek. Source: NPS Morning Report, July 27, 2009 https://npshistory.com/morningreport/2009/07-27.htm Also: Arizona Daily Sun, "No way up or down." ON THE RIVER, UPSTREAM TO DOWNSTREAM 4. THOMAS ROBISON, LEES FERRY, 2024 Where: the head of the canyon. Found near river mile 6. Source: NPS release, May 2024 https://www.nps.gov/grca/learn/news/body-recovered-along-colorado-river-may2024.htm 3. GLEN STURDEVANT AND FRED JOHNSON, HORN CREEK RAPID, 1929 Where: the river below Bright Angel Creek, at low water. Source: Nature Notes of Grand Canyon, February 1929 https://prism.lib.asu.edu/items/41488 Also: Tom Martin, "Early River Running Regulations in the Colorado River Basin," Utah History to Go. 2. MORGAN HEIMER, RIVER MILE 213, 2015 Where: a cliff jumping stop. Searched from mile 211 to 225. Source: NPS case file, released under FOIA https://www.nps.gov/aboutus/foia/upload/GRCA_Heimer_MissingPerson_ForWeb.pdf 1. GLEN AND BESSIE HYDE, 1928 Where: last journal line past 231 Mile Rapid. The scow, above mile 237. Source: Grand Canyon Historical Society https://grcahistory.org/sites/colorado-river-corridor/hyde-river-tragedy/ Also: Brad Dimock, "Sunk Without a Sound" (2001). Otis Marston, "From Powell to Power" (2014). Morgan Heimer's case is still open. If you know anything, the NPS Investigative Services Branch tip line is 888-653-0009. In this canyon, the trail you planned is the first place anybody will look for you. Walk the trail you planned. Stay found, folks. #GrandCanyon #ParkRanger #NationalParks