MOAB, Utah -- Two people have died
during separate hiking trips in the rugged southern Utah desert
country, one a participant in a wilderness survival course and
the other a teenager who got separated from her group in
110-degree heat, officials said.
Another hiker died of apparent
heat exhaustion and dehydration in South Dakota's Badlands
National Park, the park's chief ranger said.
Dave Buschow, 29, of River Vale,
N.J., died Monday night near Boulder, Utah, while taking part in
a 28-day survival course offered by the
Boulder
Outdoor Survival School, Garfield County spokeswoman Becki
Bronson said.
Buschow was on the second day of
the $3,000 course and in a group of 12 with three staff members.
The group was resting near a water source when one of the
students noticed Buschow was unusually quiet, Bronson said.
"All day Monday they were hiking in
the heat with very little food or water," Bronson said. "He was
complaining about lack of water and cramping and still given
very little water, and it was still hot."
Temperatures were in the low 90s
in the area, the National Weather Service said.
Bronson said students are
intentionally given little food or water to simulate hardship
conditions in the course, designed to teach primitive survival
skills using limited tools.
School representatives did not
immediately return a call seeking comment.
The school's Web site says its field
courses teach participants how to survive in wilderness with
minimal food, water, clothing and gear. "Our goal is to take you
from a world of convenience and comfort and put you in a
situation where you must go 'just a little bit farther' - past
those false limits your mind has set for your body," the site
says.
On Sunday, Elisa D. Santry, 16,
of South Boston, Mass., died on the 16th day of a three-week
Outward Bound Wilderness course near Canyonlands National
Park. The temperature was about 110, said San Juan County
Sheriff Mike Lacy.
Organizers said the girl was with
five other teens, ages 16 to 18, hiking through heavy brush to
reach rafts waiting for them at the Colorado River.
As they were nearing the river,
she had lagged behind, possibly to wait for another hiker, the
sheriff's office said Tuesday. The other hiker reached the river
but Santry did not show up. She was later found up a small side
canyon, the sheriff's office said.
"There was no evidence of foul
play," said Mickey Freeman, president of Outward Bound
Wilderness. An autopsy was planned.
The girl had passed a medical
screening before joining the program, the group said. Outward
Bound canceled the remaining five days of the program, which
included hiking, climbing and rafting. There were 13 other teens
participating.
Canyonlands National Park is about
200 miles southeast of Salt Lake City, and Boulder is about 200
miles south of the city.
In southwestern South Dakota, a
woman hiking on a short but steep Badlands trail died Sunday,
when the temperature was well over 100 degrees.
Other hikers found the body of Joan
Kovach, 52, of Canfield, Ohio, Chief Ranger Mark Gorman said.
"Where she eventually gave in,
her water bottles were empty and unfortunately she just did not
have enough water for the conditions," Gorman said. He said
people hiking in the park during extreme heat should carry at
least a gallon of water.