Inside The Deadliest National Park in Texas: What You Need to Know
Texas is fortunate to have so many beautiful places to visit. While the Lone Star State has many state parks, it's home to only two national parks. They are the Big Bend National Park and the Guadalupe Mountains National Park. In August of 2024, the mortality data for all the US national parks was released, including the two national parks in Texas.
What Is The Deadliest National Park In Texas
This doesn't mean that a trip to a national park is inherently dangerous. Going to a state or national park is a perfect way to spend time outdoors. Most people go hiking, climbing, and camping without incident. Sometimes, though, tragedy strikes.
Looking at the data, the deadliest national park in Texas is Big Bend with a total of 35 deaths between 2009 and 2023. What's most interesting is the cause of death that was attributed to the most incidents. For Big Bend, hyperthermia was listed most often as the cause. Hyperthermia is the polar opposite of hypothermia. To put it simply, hyperthermia is overheating. It's when your body temperature is higher than normal.
Hyperthermia can lead to headaches, dizziness, heavy sweating or a lack of sweat, seizures, organ failure, vomiting, and even death. The biggest cause of death at Big Bend National Park is overheating, which makes sense considering it's part of the Chihuahuan Desert.
How Dangerous Is Guadalupe Mountains National Park
Guadalupe Mountains National Park is absolutely gorgeous and is a favorite spot for outdoors enthusiasts. What's interesting about the data for Guadalupe Mountains National Park is that there are much fewer deaths than at Big Bend. According to the data, there was only 7 deaths. These deaths occurred between 2015 and 2023.
The leading cause of death at Guadalupe Mountains National Park is listed as "medical". Some are during physical activity, and others are marked as not during physical activity. The second leading cause was motor vehicle crashes.
In both parks, falls were listed as a cause of death, and the one that is a real head-scratcher is "undetermined". It makes you wonder what exactly happened that would make the cause of death not possible to determine. On second thought, we probably don't want to think about it.
Is It Safe To Go To A National Park In Texas
Sadly, some trips to a national park may end this way. It's heartbreaking. If there's anything positive to take from the data, it's that these incidents are pretty rare. Even at Big Bend, once you consider the time frame and the number of visitors they have every year, these incidents are far from being the norm.
If you make a trip out to one of our national parks in Texas, plan ahead and make sure you've got the supplies you'll need to make sure you don't end your trip in tragedy.
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