Hiker found dead after camping at bottom of Grand Canyon

A hiker has been found dead after he spent the night at a campsite at Arizona’s Grand Canyon, officials have announced.

The 41-year-old man was hiking out of the canyon after an overnight stay at the Bright Angel Campground near Phantom Ranch, the National Park Service detailed in a news release.

The Grand Canyon Regional Communications Center received a report on Father’s Day on Sunday at around 6.45am of an unresponsive hiker on the Bright Angel Trail, the canyon’s most popular hiking trail, according to the park service.

While the trail is considered easy on the descent down the inner canyon, the return hike back up and out of the canyon is far more difficult, requires more effort, and can take twice the time it took to come down, the National Park Service says.

The hiker was found around half a mile east of the Pipe Creek River Resthouse. It is unclear what caused his death.

Bystanders and National Park Service personnel all tried to resuscitate the individual, but their efforts were unsuccessful.

An investigation is being carried out by the National Park Service along with the Coconino County Medical Examiner. The service said there was no additional information on this incident available at this time.

The death comes a month after a man’s body was found in the Grand Canyon National Park after he had been traveling down the Colorado River in a wooden raft.

Thomas Robinson, 58, from Santa Fe, New Mexico, was found dead on 10 May, and was believed to have attempted to travel down the Colorado River with his dog on a wooden raft, the National Park Service said last month.