Some Of America’s Prettiest Trails Carry Heavy History
A spectacular view can make it easy to forget what happened on the ground beneath it. Across the United States, famous trails pass places shaped by fatal falls, flash floods, eruptions, scary encounters, forced removals, and disasters. The scenery is real, but in some places, so is a much darker history.
Angels Landing Has Claimed Lives Above Zion Canyon
The final climb to Angels Landing offers one of Zion National Park’s most famous views, but the narrow ridge is brutally exposed. Fatal falls have occurred from the chained section, including another tragic demise in April 2026. The scenery is breathtaking partly because there is so little separating hikers from the canyon below.
Gauravbharadwajm, Wikimedia Commons
Bright Angel Trail Can Turn Deadly In The Heat
Bright Angel looks almost inviting as it winds down into the Grand Canyon, but descending is much easier than climbing back out. Rangers explicitly warn against hiking from the rim to the river and back in one day. In June 2026, an 18-year-old hiker passed after experiencing heat-related symptoms on the trail.
Grand Canyon NPS, Wikimedia Commons
South Kaibab Trail Offers Almost No Escape From The Sun
South Kaibab delivers enormous canyon views because much of the trail follows exposed ridgelines. That exposure also makes summer heat dangerous. In June 2026, a 72-year-old hiker passed after apparently suffering heat-related illness there as inner-canyon temperatures climbed well above 100°F.
Ronnie Macdonald from Chelmsford, United Kingdom, Wikimedia Commons
Half Dome’s Famous Cables Have A Tragic Record
Climbing Half Dome’s cable route is a Yosemite rite of passage, but wet granite can become frighteningly slick. In 2011, a 26-year-old hiker fell roughly 600 feet while descending during stormy weather. The park noted several other previous fatalities connected with the Half Dome cables and surrounding route.
The Mist Trail Has Seen People Swept Over Vernal Fall
The Mist Trail climbs beside one of Yosemite’s most beautiful waterfalls, but the water above Vernal Fall is deceptively powerful. In July 2011, three visitors crossed a safety railing near the top and were swept over the 317-foot waterfall. The park had already posted warnings about the fast-moving current.
David Fulmer, Wikimedia Commons
Glacier’s Highline Trail Has Almost No Margin For Error
The Highline Trail delivers astonishing views across Glacier National Park while hugging steep mountainsides. In August 2025, a hiker tripped and fell roughly 450 feet from the trail. The accident was a grim reminder that a route can be well maintained and still offer little protection from a single misplaced step.
Greg Willis from Denver, CO, usa, Wikimedia Commons
Granite Park Also Carries The Memory Of 1967
Hikers on the Highline Trail can reach Granite Park Chalet, one of Glacier’s great backcountry destinations. But the area is tied to the infamous “Night of the Grizzlies". In August 1967, two young women lost their lives in separate grizzly encounters, one of them near Granite Park, transforming bear management in the park.
Robtooker629, Wikimedia Commons
Kalalau’s Beauty Comes With Dangerous Water
Kauaʻi’s Kalalau Trail is famous for towering cliffs, beaches, waterfalls, and jungle scenery. But Hanakāpīʻai Stream can rise dramatically during heavy rain. Hawaiʻi officials say flooded crossings have claimed numerous lives over the years, sometimes sweeping people from the stream toward the ocean.
Robert Linsdell from St. Andrews, Canada, Wikimedia Commons
Acadia’s Precipice Trail Has Seen Serious Falls
Precipice Trail climbs the cliffs of Champlain Mountain using iron rungs, ladders, narrow ledges, and exposed rock. The National Park Service explicitly warns that serious injuries and fatalities have occurred there. In 2018, one hiker survived an estimated 60-foot fall after a rock he grabbed broke loose.
John Manard, Wikimedia Commons
Acadia’s Ocean Path Has Its Own Tragedies
Ocean Path looks gentler than Precipice, with easy access to dramatic Atlantic views between Sand Beach and Otter Point. But the cliffs beside it can be unforgiving. In 2016, a visitor photographing the sunset fell about 40 feet from a bluff between Sand Beach and Thunder Hole and sadly didn't survive.
John Manard, Wikimedia Commons
Mount Whitney’s Views Hide Extremely Serious Terrain
The routes up Mount Whitney draw hikers toward the highest summit in the contiguous United States, but the mountain regularly requires complex rescues. In 2023, a missing hiker on the Mountaineering Route was found after apparently falling about 1,000 feet near an area known as the Notch.
Geographer (talk · contribs), Wikimedia Commons
Longs Peak Is More Climb Than Hike
Colorado’s Keyhole Route reaches spectacular alpine terrain high above Rocky Mountain National Park. The park warns bluntly that it is not an ordinary hike. Sheer rock faces, loose stone, exposed ledges, and scrambling make falls potentially fatal. A hiker perished after falling about 300 feet from the Ledges in 2010.
The Chilkoot Trail Saw A Gold Rush Disaster
Alaska’s Chilkoot Trail now offers an extraordinary hike through mountains shaped by the Klondike Gold Rush. In 1898, however, the trail became the scene of the Palm Sunday avalanche. Multiple slides struck stampeders between Sheep Camp and the Scales, with the National Park Service estimating that more than 65 people lost their lives.
Anthony DeLorenzo from Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada, Wikimedia Commons
Mount St. Helens’ Crater Was Created By Catastrophe
Today’s summit routes give hikers astonishing views directly into Mount St Helens’ crater. That landscape exists because of May 18, 1980. A massive landslide and lateral blast tore apart the mountain, flattened forests for miles, and killed 57 people, including volcanologist David Johnston.
Jon Major, U.S. Geological Survey, Wikimedia Commons
Kīlauea’s Crater Trails Overlook A Violent Volcano
Visitors now walk trails and overlooks around Kīlauea’s summit, but Halemaʻumaʻu has repeatedly shown how dangerous it can be. During a series of explosive eruptions in 1924, rocks weighing several tons were thrown from the crater. Falling debris from the largest explosion led to the loss of a photographer.
Dexter Perkins, Wikimedia Commons
Black Elk Peak Once Honored A Man Tied To A Massacre
The trail to South Dakota’s highest point ends with extraordinary views across the Black Hills. Until 2016, the summit was called Harney Peak after General William Harney. The name was changed partly because Harney commanded officers during an 1855 attack on a Lakota village that has been described as a massacre.
Skye Marthaler, Wikimedia Commons
The Trail Of Tears Is A Hiking Route Built From Forced Removal
Portions of the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail can be explored on foot today, but the route commemorates forced displacement. In 1838, the US government forcibly removed more than 16,000 Cherokee from their homelands. More than 1,000 perished during the journey, and perhaps several thousand more died from the consequences of removal.
National Trails Office (US National Park Service), Wikimedia Commons
The Lolo Trail Became A Route Of Flight And Sorrow
The Lolo Trail crosses beautiful country through Idaho and Montana, but its history is far from peaceful. In 1877, non-treaty Nez Perce used the route while fleeing the US Army after the government attempted to force them onto a dramatically reduced reservation. The National Park Service calls that period a time of flight, conflict, and sorrow.
Donner Pass Makes A Beautiful PCT Stop With A Grim Name
The Pacific Crest Trail crosses the Donner Pass region amid lakes, granite ridges, and Sierra Nevada views. The name recalls the Donner Party, the emigrant group trapped by deep snow during the winter of 1846–47. Starvation ended the lives of many members of the party and eventually forced some survivors to resort to cannibalism.
The Appalachian Trail Has Seen Rare But Terrible Violence
The Appalachian Trail is overwhelmingly a place of community and natural beauty, but its long history includes isolated acts of brutality. In May 2019, a man attacked hikers along a Virginia section of the trail, taking the life of 43-year-old Ronald Sanchez Jr and seriously injuring another hiker.
Mount Washington’s Weather Has Taken A Long Toll
Gulfside Trail near Mount Washington’s summit can look magnificent in good weather and become hostile remarkably quickly. In August 2024, a 72-year-old hiker was found deceased along the trail. Officials said he appeared to have succumbed to environmental exposure and was not prepared for the cold, wet, and windy conditions.
Greg Neault, Wikimedia Commons
The Dark Stories Should Change How We See The View
These histories are not reasons to avoid America’s great trails. They are reasons to approach them with more awareness. Some remind us that wilderness can turn dangerous quickly. Others reveal aggression, displacement, and tragedy that happened long before recreational hikers arrived. The best view sometimes carries more history than the photograph shows.
Forest Service Photography, Wikimedia Commons
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