Death Valley’s wildflower super bloom along the Artists Palette road on Sunday, February 28, 2016.
Thursday, May 23, 2024 | 3:51 p.m.
A tourist left a tour group in Death Valley National Park and spent the night alone on a steep, unstable ridge, rangers said.
She had told others on the day-long van tour from Las Vegas that she was going to the California park for “spiritual reasons,” National Park Service officials said in a May 23 news release.
Then, she vanished, officials said.
The van stopped at Artists Palette, a scenic area of the park where rainbow-colored volcanic deposits are splashed over hills, on May 9, officials said. The tourists had 20 minutes to take in the scenery before they had to come back to the van.
When the 31-year-old Canadian woman didn’t return, the tour guide searched for her before driving to Furnace Creek to report her missing, officials said.
She had tipped the guide at the start of the tour, leading rangers to believe she had planned to leave before the tour was over, officials said.
Park rangers did a quick search for her in Artist’s Palette that afternoon but didn’t find her, officials said.
Search and rescue teams from the park service, sheriff’s office and California Highway Patrol kept searching for her the next morning, officials said. That’s when a park ranger spotted her on a “steep, unstable ridge north of Artists Palette.”
Park rangers were able to communicate with her but couldn’t find a safe way to get to her, officials said. Eventually, a California Highway Patrol helicopter hoisted her from the ridge, a photo shows.
“The woman later told park rangers she had intended to climb up the slope, wander into the desert and not return,” officials said. “She appeared to be experiencing an emotional crisis.”
People experiencing emotional crisis can dial 988, or have someone dial for them, to receive free and confidential support from the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. The lifeline is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week and is available to anyone.
Death Valley covers 3.4 million acres and is the largest national park outside of Alaska. The desert park is about a 125-mile drive northwest from Las Vegas.
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