Joshua Tree National Park’s popularity takes toll on rescue workers
Volunteer rescuer Tiowa Reynolds, 26, walks past the spot where her found lost and dehydrated 76-year-old hiker David Sewell in the Joshua Tree Wilderness on April 26, in Joshua Tree.
JOSHUA TREE NATIONAL PARK – David Sewell lay against a pile of granite rocks, struggling even to shift his hips slightly beneath him. He told himself that if he was going to die, he should write a note to his children.
Three days earlier, on a Saturday afternoon in April, the legally blind 76-year-old with a history of heart problems had collapsed of exhaustion on a secluded hillside while on a day hike in Joshua Tree National Park.
On Sunday, with temperatures in the 90s, Sewell had one ounce of water left. On Monday, he heard rescue helicopters nearby, only to hear them quickly fade away. On Tuesday, he woke up believing he wouldn’t survive the day.
In the last five years, Joshua Tree National Park has experienced a visitor boom unlike anything it has seen before, driven in part by music festivals such as Coachella and the growing popularity of national parks around the country. This year, the park expects 3.1 million visitors, more than double the 1.4 million it drew in 2013.
There are days when cars line up a mile long at the entrance and tens of thousands of visitors vie for 3,000 parking spots. In December, park officials concerned about being overrun asked people to consider visiting Death Valley National Park or the Mojave National Preserve.
Beyond the inconveniences, the park’s boom has also raised the chances that something will go seriously wrong in this deceptively inviting landscape, where even experienced hikers can wander off trails or underestimate how quickly the weather goes from cool to intolerably hot.
In March 2017, a 25-year old rock climber died after a fall, the same day another climber fell and had to be rescued. In October, the bodies of Rachel Nguyen and Joseph Orbeso were found with gunshot wounds after they had been missing for three months. Friends and family members have said they believe Nguyen was injured while hiking with Orbeso and shot her in an act of mercy before turning the gun on himself.
The rise in incidents of people needing help takes a toll on the park’s resources, particularly its volunteer search-and-rescue workers.
“Visitors to the park have to assume a certain level of personal responsibility,” said Superintendent David Smith. “We just do not have the staff available to respond to everything that’s out there.”