News Release

Zion National Park rescues one person and responds to one fatality in the Narrows

File photo of Zion National Park Search and Rescue vehicle.

NPS / Jonathan Shafer

News Release Date: November 24, 2022

Contact: Jonathan Shafer, [phone]

SPRINGDALE, Utah – On the morning of Wednesday, November 23, Zion National Park shuttle drivers reported that visitors had encountered an injured man and a non-responsive woman in the Narrows. The Zion National Park Search and Rescue Team responded and found the man on Riverside Walk. Team members transported the man to the Zion Emergency Operations Center. Farther up the Narrows, other team members found a non-responsive woman near the Virgin River. First responders administered emergency aid, but they determined she was deceased.

Zion National Park’s response involved more than 20 search and rescue team members.

Background on this incident
A 33-year-old man and 31-year-old woman, a married couple, had started their permitted 16-mile trip through the Narrows from the top-down on Tuesday, November 22. The man reported they became dangerously cold overnight and experienced symptoms consistent with hypothermia.

The pair stopped about a mile and a half from the north end of Riverside Walk (a paved trail that leads from the Temple of Sinawava to the Narrows). Early in the morning of November 23, the man continued on to get help while the woman remained. Park rangers encountered the man on Riverside Walk where other visitors were assisting him down the trail. Other visitors farther up the Narrows administered CPR to the woman before Zion Search and Rescue Team members arrived. The National Park Service appreciates these visitors' efforts.

The Washington County Sheriff’s Office, Utah Office of the Medical Examiner, and the National Park Service are still investigating the cause of the woman’s death.