People die all the time around here in Phoenix on short trials. Camelback mountain is well known to have claimed the occasional recreational hiker and it’s right in the middle of Scottsdale. Always a tragic thing. People are either physically unfit, don’t bring enough water or bad karma.
Worse is when they wander off into the superstition mountains in the summer without enough water. There are already crazies out there looking for gold and if you’re walking on their perceived claim or worse a drug trail, you are not likely to come back. Worst is when they simply don’t prepare like the Chinese tourist some years back. No water, no real clue and not enough communication skills to understand “y’all r gonna die like that....” Eventually they find you, but not until after significant weight loss, say...all of it.
This land will kill you. 4 years ago I took my family on a hike where we learned my wife was anemic to the point of passing out. Carried her 4 miles up a mountain trail out of a wild valley. Started around one, got out at sunset. I had one bottle of water left, a near thing. All I kept saying is that “we are all getting out of here.” I’ll remember that hike every time we prep for one now. My wife had her conditioned addressed and corrected and has no problems now. Boy did I win points that day! ; D
Mount Washington has claimed at least 137 victims since 1849. It is called the most dangerous small mountain in the world. http://www.backpacker.com/october_08_americas_10_most_dangerous_hikes_mt_washington_nh/destinations/12622
I know a guy who got caught in snow storm on Mt. Washington when he was in his sixties. Not a pleasant experience, but he survived.
“I had one bottle of water left, a near thing. All I kept saying is that “we are all getting out of here.” I’ll remember that hike every time we prep for one now.”
I take my boys hiking in the mountains along the NY/NJ border; not as harsh a climate but you can be a few miles from help. When it gets too hot such hikes aren’t practical due to the amount of water we’d have to carry. On one hike a police sergeant told me to bring an “extra cell phone” due to rattlesnakes in the area (I guess if one couldn’t get reception another might?).