Reporting by Miles Blumhardt, Fort Collins Coloradoan
Rocky Mountain National Park is one of the most dangerous national parks for accidental deaths, but that doesn’t deter more than 4 million people from visiting the Colorado park annually.
And for good reason: The odds of winning Colorado Lottery’s Mega Millions jackpot are greater than dying in the popular park.
The park ranked 10th in accidental deaths from 2014 to 2022, according to outdoors publication Outforia, which tracked mortality for all 63 national parks. Deaths in parks attributed to such events as a heart attack were not counted in the mortalities.
Rocky Mountain National Park had 21 deaths during that time. Thirteen of those were due to falls, six from extreme weather and avalanches, and one each from transportation and wildlife, according to the report.
The national park is widely recognized as having the highest average elevation of any national park and includes 14,259-foot Longs Peak, one of the most popular fourteeners to hike/climb in Colorado.
The odds of accidentally dying in the park during those years was 1 in 1.8 million. The odds of winning Colorado’s Mega Million jackpot is 1 in 1.3 million.
And when factoring in visitation, the park ranked 23rd in deaths per 1 million visitors at 0.6.
Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park and Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve each had one death during that time due to environmental conditions. Mesa Verde National Park had none.
These 2 national parks rank as deadliest, depending on how you look at it
Yosemite National Park in California saw the most accidental deaths between 2014 and 2022, at 61, most of those from falls, but ranked ninth in deaths per 1 million visitors at 1.7.
Alaska’s sprawling and remote Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve saw the most deaths per 1 million visitors at 15.3, nearly 20 times the national park average, with most of those coming from drownings.
How Rocky Mountain National Park ranks next to other parks for most accidental deaths
According to Outforia 2014-22, with leading cause of death
- Yosemite: 61, falls
- Great Smoky Mountains: 58, vehicle crashes
- Grand Canyon: 53, vehicle crashes, falls
- Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks: 42, falls
- Grand Teton: 31, falls
- Death Valley: 27, vehicle crashes
- Mount Rainier: 27, falls
- Zion: 26, falls
- Yellowstone: 22, vehicle crashes
- Rocky Mountain: 21, falls
Most accidental deaths per 1 million visitors, according to Outforia 2014-22, with leading cause of death
- Wrangell-St. Elias: 15.3, drownings
- Dry Tortugas: 8.2, drownings
- Virgin Islands: 5.6, drownings
- Denali: 4, falls
- Sequoia & Kings Canyon: 2.7, falls
- Death Valley: 2.4, vehicle crashes
- Redwood: 2.2, vehicle crashes
- Mount Rainier: 2.1, falls
- Yosemite: 1.7, falls
- Glacier Bay: 1.7, aircraft crashes
- Canyonlands: 1.7, falls
This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan.
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