A hiker fell to his death on one of Zion National Park’s steepest and most popular trails.
A hiker fell to his death last week on one of Zion National Park’s steepest and most popular trails.
On Monday, the National Park Service identified him as Gilberto Ramos, 68, of Laredo, Texas.
Following visitor reports, officials were called to Angels Landing trail at 2 p.m. Friday and confirmed that Ramos fell from a chained part of the trail, according to a news release. Rangers found his body on the north side of Angels Landing in Zion Canyon near Big Bend.
After a recovery mission that ended Friday evening, the agency closed West Rim Trail, including Scout Lookout and Angels Landing, immediately after, but it reopened Saturday morning.
The trail is in the nation’s second-most visited national park, less than a four-hour drive northeast of Las Vegas.
Angels Landing is a strenuous, 5.4-mile round-trip hike that, since 2022, has required every visitor to obtain a permit via online lottery to prevent crowding. To reach the summit, hikers must navigate about 1,500 feet in elevation gain.
The Utah agencies involved include the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, the Washington County Medical Examiner, Hurricane Valley Fire and Rescue and Kane County Search and Rescue.
The sheriff’s office denied the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s public records request Monday for incident reports, citing an open investigation. Both the park service and sheriff’s office will continue to look into the circumstances.
Angels Landing will be closed from Monday to Wednesday for previously scheduled maintenance.
Friday’s death is far from the trail’s first. A 2025 study found at least 17 hikers have died on Angels Landing trail over the years, suggesting safety improvements in 2010 were a positive step toward preventing more of them.
The most recent death was in May 2024, when rangers found a hiker unresponsive at Scout Lookout.
Contact Alan Halaly at [email protected]. Follow @AlanHalaly on X.
