Who: Three brothers, ages 18, 14 and 10Where: Rock Canyon, UtahTheir mistake: Went hiking and underestimated the slope and their timing.What happened: Three brothers went hiking into a canyon and ended up in a spot that was too steep to continue up and not safe to climb down. On top of that, the sun began [...]

Who: 26-year-old Mike ZerwekhWhere: Cleveland National Forest, Southern CaliforniaHis mistake: Looks like he wasn’t paying attention to his surroundings. He’s not sure if he stepped on the snake or if he just stepped into the snake’s territory.What happened: A biologist hiking through national forest land above the Inland Empire was suddenly bitten by a snake. [...]

Who: 49-year-old Karin Vandenberg and two 14-year-old boysWhere: Mount Olympus, UtahHer mistake: She slipped on some snow and fell down a snow-covered chute near a ravine. The boys in the group tried to help and fell down themselves.What happened: Karin Vandenberg was hiking with her 14-year-old son, Christine Holding, her husband and their 14-year-old son. [...]

Who: A 31-year-old hikerWhere: Superstition Mountains, ArizonaHis mistake: Not known. Details are pretty thin.What happened: A man was found after spending the night in the wilderness. He is said to be an experienced hiker, but he is a diabetic. His wife called authorities when he didn’t return from his hike.

He was found the next day [...]

Who: A 58-year-old womanWhere: Darwin Canyon in Death Valley National Park, CaliforniaHer mistake: It’s unknown. There were no details of the actually incident.What happened: A woman was screaming in pain in an isolated canyon in Death Valley National Park. Thankfully, two park rangers were in earshot patrolling. They followed the screams and found a woman [...]

Who: 26-year-old Jean-Philippe Poirier of Quebec CityWhere: on Mont Medaille in the Notre-Dame Mountains on Quebec’s upper Gaspe PeninsulaHis mistake: He went skiing after a big winter storm. Not sure if he checked the slope stability before dropping in.What happened: A skier was out with his buddies (not sure how many) on a north-facing slope. [...]

Who: a 55-year-old man from ConnecticutWhere: Otter Cliffs in Acadia National Park, MaineHis mistake: He slipped off a cliff and pinballed down a crevice.What happened: A man was hiking with his daughter to retrieve some driftwood at the bottom of the cliffs. The man wanted to get the driftwood because his daughter was engaged there [...]

Who: A 72-year-old grandfatherWhere: Table Mountain, South AfricaHis mistake: He got lost and slipped down a waterfallWhat happened: A grandfather and his 11-year-old grandson were hiking up Table Mountain to meet the grandmother and a friend who were waiting for them at the top. Along the way, the grandfather took a wrong turn that sent [...]

Amazingly, this is my 1,000 HikerHell post in about 10 months since starting this blog. That means I’ve posted about 3 stories per day of hikers, climbers, mountaineers, mountain bikers and kayakers who have experienced a not-so-fun time while playing in the outdoors.

It still amazes me to this day that hundreds of thousands of [...]

Who: Lisa Montonoati and her 13-year-old daughter, ChristinaWhere: Stoneridge Drive, near Prescott Valley, ArizonaTheir mistake: Bad luck here. The only thing they could’ve done to avoid this is not go hiking.What happened: A mother and daughter out on a hike were attacked by a bobcat who bit and clutched onto the daughter’s leg. The mother [...]