Steve Curry, 71, of Sunland, smiles as he sits in the shade after walking to Zabriskie Point in Death Valley National Park on Tuesday, July 18, 2023, in Death Valley, CA.Photo:Francine Orr/Los Angeles Times/Getty
Francine Orr/Los Angeles Times/Getty
A 71-year-old man whodied last weekat a trailhead in Death Valley National Park spoke to a reporter about braving the extreme heat hours before his death.
Curry told the reporter that he’d hiked from Golden Canyon to Zabriskie Point that morning. “Everything is hot here,” he said.
In afollow-up storypublished after his death,The Los Angeles Timesreported that when asked why he was attempting the hike, he answered, “Why not?”
The National Park Service said in anews releasethat the Los Angeles man, who was carrying a backpack and was sporting a sunhat and hiking gear, had just finished hiking the “popular trail” when other visitors at the park noticed the man had collapsed and called 911 at around 3:40 p.m. local time.
Despite CPR and an automated external defibrillator (AED), park rangers were not able to save Curry.
Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
“We were supposed to grow old together, sit on our rocking chairs on the porch," she said while speaking with theTimes.
In their statement, park officials noted Curry’s death was “possibly” thesecond heat-related fatalityin Death Valley this summer. On July 3, a 65-year-old man was found dead inside a car that had two flat tires and a broken air conditioning system.
“The heat is not a foe that you can overcome,” she told the outlet. “Your body can only take so much.”
source: people.com
