A Texan missing in Grand Canyon National Park since December 22 was found alive Thursday on the rugged New Hance Trail that runs down Red Canyon on the South Rim to the Colorado River/NPS map
A Texan who disappeared in Grand Canyon National Park nearly two weeks ago was found alive in the park Thursday and was undergoing a medical evaluation.
Martin Edward O'Connor, who was last seen December 22 at the Yavapai Lodge, was spotted by hikers on New Year's Day along the New Hance Trail; he was located on the rugged trail by rangers Thursday morning. A helicopter lifted the 58-year-old from La Porte, Texas, out of the Innger Gorge, a park release.
No additional information on O'Connor's condition, or where along the trail he was found, was immediately available.
The New Hance Trail starts just west of Moran Point on the South Rim of the park and heads down Red Canyon to the Colorado River.
Multiple scrambles and short down climbs are the norm as the trail traverses a series of ledges through the Kaibab and Toroweap. The Coconino is defined by obscurity; a stretch of trail which could be difficult to navigate at night and near impossible to navigate after significant snowfall. Below the Coconino, at a grassy saddle, the character of the trail suddenly changes as it plunges into a dry wash through the Supai. Route finding skills are required through the Supai section: a braided network of trails wander in and out of the wash. Any of these trails will take hikers to the top of the Redwall Limestone (Red Canyon Overlook), where it leaves the creek bed and starts a difficult traverse to the east, about one mile in length, through the lower part of the Supai layer. The trail has been obliterated by rockslides in shallow ravines through which the trail meanders during this traverse. A knob at the top of the Redwall Limestone marks the top of the descent.
Once through the Redwall, the trail runs down the nose of a rounded ridgeline that parallels the creek bed far below. Though the terrain appears gentle from above, don't be deceived: the trail angles down sharply with very few switchbacks until the crumbly rock layers allow access into the bottom of Red Canyon. -- National Park Service
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Comments
What a blessing with the cold tempatures at the canyon that he was alive . I run guided tours from Las Vegas and have many pictures of the snow and ice , I know this man is lucky.
We completed a four day backpack rim to rim traverse in May. It is very simply amazing that this guy is alive.
I just came off the New Hance Trail yesterday. It is a very difficult trail and somewhate confusing in places with a ton of places whre it is not really a trail any more and more of a hiker created "way through" with a lot of landslides. We had the benefit of following footprints through the snow. It snowed an inch or two on the night of the 1st/2nd so the tracks we followed were probably those from the search and rescue folks. NPS did have photos at the Tanner and New Hance Trailheads as well as at the Backcountry Office.