Latest news with #SuperstitionMountains
The Guardian
12-05-2025
- Climate
- The Guardian
Arizona man dies on mountain hike amid sweltering temperatures
A 33-year-old man died while hiking in Arizona's Gold Canyon on Sunday as temperatures reached about 100F (37.8C), officials said. Noah Farabaugh, from Arizona, was hiking with a group of five people in the Superstition Mountains, about 40 miles east of Phoenix, when he started having a medical emergency at around 12.45pm. 'When deputies arrived, the man was deceased,' a spokesperson for the Pinal county sheriff's office told the Guardian. 'No foul play is suspected.' The Pinal county medical examiner will determine the cause of death. The Superstition fire and medical district said on Facebook the incident was likely due to heat-related problems. One member of the fire crew told Fox News that the group had been on the trail for roughly six hours and with little water. The other four hikers were rescued and did not want to go to the hospital. Officials warned that heat illness can occur quickly, even for experienced hikers, especially as Arizona temperatures can rise above 110F (43.3C) in summer. They also said most heat-related deaths happen between 10am and 4pm, the hottest time of day, with even dry heat causing fast dehydration. Hikers can lose up to 1 liter of sweat per hour while hiking. The Superstition Mountains rise over 6,000ft above the Sonoran desert. The Superstitions are part of Tonto national forest and include the Superstition wilderness area, which can only be reached by hiking or horseback. The Superstition wilderness area is about 160,000 acres of rugged desert, according to the Visit Mesa website. The name comes from stories told by the Akimel O'odham people, who spoke of strange sounds, disappearances, and deaths in the mountains, according to Phoenix's tourist page. In the 1840s, the Peralta family from Mexico was said to have discovered gold mines in the area, but their final expedition ended in an Apache ambush, giving rise to the name of the trailhead Massacre Grounds, according to Arizona State Parks. Later, in the 1870s, a German immigrant named Jacob Waltz, known as the 'Dutchman', supposedly rediscovered the lost mine with the help of a Peralta descendant. He and his partner allegedly hid gold near Weaver's Needle, but the mine's location was never confirmed. Waltz died in 1891, reportedly revealing clues to the mine's location to a neighbor, but no one has successfully found it since. The tale of the 'Lost Dutchman's Mine' has inspired many searchers, some of whom met mysterious or deadly fates.
CBS News
12-05-2025
- Health
- CBS News
Hiker dies, 4 rescued after heat-related emergency in Arizona's Gold Canyon
A hiker died Sunday in the Arizona desert, where temperatures had soared to unseasonable heights, according to emergency responders and local news reports. The man died after hiking in Gold Canyon, at the base of Arizona's Superstition Mountains east of Phoenix, CBS News affiliate AZ Family reported, citing the Pinal County Sheriff's Office. Fired crews said he suffered a seizure and cardiac arrest. He was 33 years old. The sheriff's office told AZ Family that deputies received a call from five hikers. One of them, the man who later died, became unresponsive after six hours on the trail. Several others in the group were also suffering from heat-related issues and said they had run out of water, according to AZ Family. Weather reports show temperatures in the area peaked at around 100 degrees Fahrenheit on Sunday. By the time deputies arrived at the scene, the hiker who had fallen unconscious was confirmed dead, the news outlet reported. Life-saving measures were performed multiple times to try to revive him, but they were unsuccessful. The Pinal County Medical Examiner will determine the hiker's cause of death, but foul play is not suspected, AZ Family reported. CBS News contacted the Pinal County Sheriff's Office for more information. All other hikers in the group were rescued by emergency crews but refused transport to the hospital, according to the Superstition Fire and Medical District, which responded alongside Pinal County authorities during the incident. 13:01 5/11/25 SFMD, along with assistance from @mesafiredept and @pinalcountysheriff responded to a 1st alarm Mountain... Posted by Superstition Fire & Medical District on Sunday, May 11, 2025 "As temperatures climb, so does the risk. Heat illness can set in fast, even for experienced hikers," officials said in a Facebook post, noting that summertime temperatures in Arizona can reach 110 degrees Fahrenheit or higher. In those conditions, "heat exhaustion or heat stroke can occur in under an hour," they warned.
The Independent
12-05-2025
- Health
- The Independent
One dead on hiking trail after authorities respond to ‘heat issues' call
One person died after a group of hikers reportedly ran out of water on a popular Arizona hiking trail as temperatures soared to 100 degrees on an unseasonably hot Mother's Day. Rescue teams responded to a group of five hikers in the Superstition Mountains near Gold Canyon, about 40 miles east of Phoenix, after receiving a call at just before 1 p.m. Sunday, officials said. The group had been hiking for about six hours before the Supersition Fire and Medical District and the Mesa Fire Department were alerted to one person suffering a heat-related medical emergency on the Wave Cave Trail. Officials speculated that a 33-year-old man, who has not yet been identified, had a seizure and went into cardiac arrest before falling unconscious about three-quarters of a mile away from the trailhead, according to local CBS News affiliate Arizona Family. One person from the group reportedly made it to the trailhead and was able to flag authorities down. According to the Pinal County Sheriff's Office, fellow hikers began resuscitation efforts before first responders arrived and administered multiple rounds of CPR. The department confirmed that the four other hikers were not injured and were assisted down the mountain. According to an SFMD statement, they 'refused transport to the hospital. " The group told fire crews they had run out of water, according to the local news outlet. No foul play was suspected in the man's death, the sheriff's office said. The Pinal County Medical Examiner will determine the cause of death. Officials discouraged people from returning to the area for the rest of the day. 'As temperatures climb, so does the risk. Heat illness can set in fast, even for experienced hikers,' the SFMD said. Delaney Krieger, an avid hiker from Phoenix, said it felt 'surreal' learning of the man's death, having planned to hike the Wave Cave trail before the incident. 'It feels very surreal to think about what happened to someone today. It's horrible. I feel so bad for him,' she said. 'The desert can be a really dangerous place, not only because of animals and plants but because of the heat, mostly.' Temperatures reached uncharacteristic spring highs on Sunday. Due to high ozone levels, an air quality alert was also in effect throughout the day. Fire crews urged hikers to hydrate several days in advance if they were braving the heat. 'You really want to pre-hydrate several days in advance. And then also, heat acclimation – changing temperatures,' SFMD Fire Chief Daniel Elliot said. 'Maybe don't start off with such a long hike. Get outdoors a little bit and have progression.'
