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RMNP ranks in top 10 of deadliest national parks

By No User February 3, 2021 | updated 4 years ago

Colorado’s Rocky Mountain National Park is one of the deadliest national parks in the country, according to a report by Outforia.

RMNP was ranked the eighth-most deadly with 49 deaths occurring in the park between 2010 and 2020. The top three were the Grand Canyon with 134 deaths, Yosemite with 126 and Great Smoky Mountains with 92.

RMNP was also surpassed by Mount Rainier, Denali, Yellowstone and Sequoia & King’s Canyon.

Body believed to be of missing man found in Rocky Mountain National Park

Of the deaths in RMNP, 18 were the result of accidental falls. Falls are the most common cause of death in national parks, accounting for 245 in the last decade, the report said.

Medical and natural deaths are the second most common with 192, followed by undetermined causes with 166.

In addition to the falls, six of RMNP’s deaths were medical or natural deaths, five were environmental, one was from poisoning, seven were undetermined, one was a murder and 11 were “other,” according to the report.

This data comes from the National Park Service; however, there have been at least two murders in RMNP in recent years. One in 2020 when a mother shot her toddler son and another in 2012 when a husband pushed his wife off a cliff.

Face masks now required within Rocky Mountain, all national parks

The 2012 murder was likely misclassified as a fall because the husband claimed it was an accident for years until he was found guilty of murder in 2015.

This makes RMNP the only top-10 national park to have had any murders committed within it. RMNP is also tied with Joshua Tree in California for having the most murders of any national park.

The full report is available at outforia.com.

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