https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/teen-dies-hiking-in-texas-heat-at-big-bend-park-stepdad-killed-in-car-crash-while-seeking-help/ar-AA1d0R5y

We've done that trail, and Randell's Overlook.

There's 0 shade nor water. Very rocky and exposed trail that's best hiked in December/much cooler time of year.

Doing it in June is stupid, frankly.

From the press release, I'd speculate the father was already having severe heat exhaustion and became disoriented or delirious when trying to get help.

Map of the area; the van crashed over the edge of Boquillas Canyon Overlook.



And the van:

Seems like somebody dies out there every year. Got to respect the heat.

A 17 year old passed away hiking in Palo Duro last week.

Made 4-5 decent hikes at/near Big Bend in my younger days, and every single one was in December. No idea why folks would try in June

The Marufo Vega Trail (from Big Bend NP website)- Hikers must be duly prepared for the challenges of this trail. This trail is not an appropriate hike for the unprepared or unfit.. Temperatures regularly well exceed 110F during spring and summer. You will find NO shade and NO water along this trailand river water is not potable. The trail ascends and then descends through the Deadhorse Mountains. Total elevation gain (climbing) is approximately 2000' each way. Marufo Vega is pleasant to hike during the winter months, but hikers have died in the intense heat of spring and summer. This combination of factors make this trail potentially deadly from April through September.

31 year old stepdad of 21 and 17 year olds. Kind of weird on its own.

Terrible.

That is awful. So tragic for that family to lose two members like that.

I was out there first week in May, circumstances with my buddy caused us to move that trip back about three weeks later than I wanted to as we were pushing it heat wise.

Even then it was hitting mid 90's by 1:00. So we were in the park hiking at dawn and back in the car by 1:00 on the way back to Terlingua by for siestas and cervezas. And that was sticking to hikes with shade.

I wouldn't have even attempted that hike past spring break. It's a 13 miler with zero shade. What they did was unbelievably stupid and I'm convinced the dad had heat stroke as well and was trying to make it back to the village store for help took the first turn by mistake and drove straight off that view point at the dead end of the boquillas overlook.

I read the temp in the park that day hit 119 down by the river.

That's one of the more difficult trails I've ever done....and I did it in December.

There is literally warning sign at the trailhead.

Sorry for those boys - the one who died and the one who survived but lost his brother.

Big bend heat is brutal.

Doing any kind of recreational activity in that heat is brutal.

It's beautiful in January. I would never go in the summer. And if I did, I would be in the AC from 10:00AM to 9:00PM.

i've hiked out there when the highs were in the 110s in the desert, but we started first thing in the morning and were off the trail before 11a. That said, I wouldn't do Marufo Vega in the summer. There's something about that trail...it just feels hotter than other desert hikes, even the ones in the same area like Old Ore.

Friend of mine did some hiking at Big Bend back when we were at A&M. Not sure which trail and I think he did it during spring break. These are 20 year memories of a trip I wasn't on, so a few details may be off. I remember he said there was a sign that said if you needed to be rescued it was "X" amount of dollars, before you started the trail. They both brought a gallon of water and it wasn't enough. About 4 or 5 hours in they were out of water and not certain how much farther it was. He and his buddy were trying to figure out how they were going to pay for the rescue. Fortunately it didn't come to that and they made it out.

When I was out of shape in my 20's I had a nice near heat stroke in the Grand Canyon in late June. Temps upper 90's in the late afternoon. Fortunately the rest of my family group I was hiking with found me a sliver of shade and got me cooled down.

I've spent years conditioning outside now doing workouts and labor in triple digit summer heat and you really do have to be prepared and conditioned over years to do that, and also be equipped for conditions. You might have to carry your own collapsible Sun shelter. You will have to carry a LOT of water. You may have to find a sliver of shade and rest during the hottest part of the day, and you will need to rest more frequently to not over exhert.

Homo Sapiens are arid climate specialists, as in we can, when conditioned, function in the hottest parts of the hottest places, but we have our limits, and right now most Americans are IN NO WAY prepared for summer conditions in Big Bend. I'm out there every year….in the fall. It's miserably hot in the flats during the mid day in summer. You can hike it, but have a plan for a mid afternoon siesta in your hike.

I used to live in Alpine. We would only go to Big Bend in the spring or fall. Climbed all over that place. South Rim was always the best experience. Always had a gallon of water each. Feel so sorry for them. Especially the kid.

I've been to Big Bend quite a lot in the summer, and I've hiked there a good bit in the summer. Hell, I took my wife to the Window when she was pregnant with our first kid in late May (which is still their dry season, worse than late summer). The point is being prepared, physically, with equipment you bring, with knowing the trail.

I hate to limit access to anything, but maybe certain trails shouldn't have been open this time of year.

Terrible.

They shouldn't close trails to people who are conditioned and prepared. They do need to emphasize summer heat can be fatal to the unprepared.

An update....

Date: June 24, 2023
Contact: Tom VandenBerg, 432-477-1107


BIG BEND NATIONAL PARK, TEXAS On Friday, June 23 at approximately 6:00 pm, Big Bend National Park's Communications Center received a call requesting emergency assistance along the Marufo Vega Trail. A father and his two stepsons from Florida were hiking the Marufo Vega Trail in extreme heat. Temperatures at the time were 119 F. The youngest, age 14, fell ill along the trail and lost consciousness. The father departed the scene to hike back to their vehicle to find help while the other brother, aged 21, attempted to carry his brother back to the trailhead.

A team of Park Rangers and U.S. Border Patrol Agents reached the scene at approximately 7:30 pm and located the young victim deceased along the trail. A search was then initiated for the father. At approximately 8:00 pm, his vehicle was located crashed over the embankment at the Boquillas Overlook. The 31-year-old male was pronounced deceased at the scene of the crash.

The Marufo Vega Trail winds through extremely rugged desert and rocky cliffs within the hottest part of Big Bend National Park. No shade or water makes this strenuous trail dangerous to attempt in the heat of summer. Big Bend is currently experiencing extreme heat with daily highs reaching 110-119 F at low elevations and along the Rio Grande.

This incident remains under investigation. There are no further details at this time.

Ark03 said:

---

I hate to limit access to anything, but maybe certain trails shouldn't have been open this time of year.

---

I wholeheartedly disagree with this. The NPS at BBNP is already overzealous when it comes to closing roads and trails, removing them from the map, etc. They don't need any encouragement to continue their Disney-fication of the park. If anything, their continued desire to protect people from themselves has led to this idea that all parks are safe and safety concerns can be dismissed - because, as you pointed out, if they were really dangerous they would be closed.

Yea I'm not sure there's more you can do than basically have a sign that says "if you're note prepared you will die" at the trailhead.

We hiked Palo Duro in July and there were rangers at the trailhead making sure you had water. We had 3 kids under 6 at the time so we had a ton and told the Rangers we were only doing 1/2 the trail. We were off by 11 am and in our camper. There were some heading out when we left with just a bottle of water. Couldn't believe it.

Hiking in 119 degree with full exposure is just begging to die. I won't do recreational hiking above 85 degrees, and that's pretty hot for hiking as it is.

I reached out to an outfit buddy that was head Ranger at Big Bend, will not cite his name but am supplying his quote:

Quote:

---

People do things in national parks that they wouldn't think of doing at home…poor decisions are made even when advised against doing them. Our first and only job is to protect the park…not protect visitors - they are secondary. The Marufo Vega is probably the most dangerous trail in the system- which is attractive to some and hiking it in 115 degree wx is a terrible decision. Closing a trail does not keep people off it… it just makes it more attractive. The trail needs to be removed or reworked to allow better access. Anyway it is always terrible to have a fatality and it puts staff in harms way to retrieve or recover the corpse - it ain't pleasant.

---

MouthBQ98 said:

---

They shouldn't close trails to people who are conditioned and prepared. They do need to emphasize summer heat can be fatal to the unprepared.

---

I don't disagree. I hate the idea of closing trails, but people do seem awfully stupid these days.

If I did some of the things other posters say in this thread, like only visiting warm places in winter, or only hiking when it's under 85 degrees, I don't know what we would have done on all our summer vacations.

Good chance that a path containing the name "Deadhorse" is one I will avoid.

i used to be about as fit as a human could be, but we didnt take enough water up to the basin, and we were pretty damned beat up by the time we made it down. and that was summer, but at high altitude it was cooler at least, and there was shade to be had.

funny story off topic - hiking grand canyon, about half a day in, had just passed a little shack with a freaking water fountain about half a mile back. came across a band of austrailian college kids sprawled around in the shade, begging us for water, literally half dead. lilke in real desperate trouble. they had been lost for days apparently.

you should have seen their faces when we told them there was a water fountain a half mile up, lol.

aint no water fountains in big bend.

Quote:

---

If I did some of the things other posters say in this thread, like only visiting warm places in winter, or only hiking when it's under 85 degrees, I don't know what we would have done on all our summer vacations.

---

Feel free to judge me all you like, but most of my hikes are solo and I don't particularly like to sweat like a ***** in church when I'm out trying to have a good time. Hell, I was sweating like crazy when I hike Rampart Ridge last week and it was 55 degrees (plus 100% humidity).

That's not to say I haven't ever hiked above 85 degrees, but it's not my first choice of things to do and it's something that requires serious preparation. In my experience, full exposure for long distances starts getting near the "too hot to be safe" range around 80 degrees. The last time I hiked near those temps, it was 10 miles with a high temp of 78 degrees with the middle 6-7 miles 100% exposed. I went through 7 liters of water and was still dehydrated when I was done.

So sad. Can't imagine being the surviving 21 year old.
I don't mind doing yard work in the Houston summer or running when you shouldn't be out running. But I would never have my family attempt a hike like this. Solo, sure, but I know their limits.

BB weather is wild. One March we had 72 in the Basin, then 100 at Santa Elena (same day). Then a big cold front came the next day and it had dropped to 44 by the time we got to Alpine.

Very sad but life lessons are very hard.

We were there in the winter one time doing a 3 day overnight 25 mile hike. On day 1 late in the afternoon we were taking a break off trail (to make our loop spring to spring), well above a famous spot when a family of 5 just arrived. It was 6-8 hours to that location and they had nothing but a water bottle and it was already after supper.

JFABNRGR said:

---

Very sad but life lessons are very hard.

We were there in the winter one time doing a 3 day overnight 25 mile hike. On day 1 late in the afternoon we were taking a break off trail (to make our loop spring to spring), well above a famous spot when a family of 5 just arrived. It was 6-8 hours to that location and they had nothing but a water bottle and it was already after supper.

---

Wow. Those people are just stupid.

Yeah over the last few years with covid shutting things down hiking was one of the few things people could do, so number have jumped up a lot. Sucks for trying to get a quiet day out, but great that so many more people are invested in protecting places. For the new hikers though, so many of them just really don't understand it's dangerous if you aren't prepared. I was on a relatively easy hike yesterday (Mary's rock at Shenandoah) and even there I saw people out of their depth. To be fair we all learned those hard lessons at some point (I got lost once on a hike, high 80's and one 20 ounce bottle of water), but when kids are involved you better know what you are doing. My cutoff is high 80's but it's also more humid here usually. If it's above that I still have the option of going up to a decent elevation hike to get under it:, But I generally won't hike above that temp. Too many things can go wrong.