KANE COUNTY, Utah — A second hiker was found dead Wednesday, days after he and another man, who also died, went missing inside a slot canyon in Kane County.
The Kane County Sheriff's Office announced they had located the body of the second hiker, identified as Jeff Watson, south of the Utah-Arizona state line. Watson's body was located a day after the body of fellow hiker, Bill Romaniello, was found late Tuesday.
Watson and Romaniello were part of a 3-person group from the Tampa area that entered the Buckskin Gulch slot canyon, which covers both Utah and Arizona, on Monday morning.
All three men worked together at the same orthopedic clinic in Tampa. Watson was an orthopedic surgeon and graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy who was awarded the outstanding instructor for the Air Force Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape course, according to his biography.
"Tragedy has hit the practice, and it is with profound sadness that we share the loss of Dr. Jeffrey Watson and William Romaniello, ATC, two pillars of the practice that leave an incredible legacy and monumental void in the hearts of everyone that knew them," the Orthopaedic Medical Group of Tampa Bay posted to social media.
Recent rains had caused hazardous flash flooding in the canyon and surrounding areas.
During previous searches that began when the group was reported overdue on Monday, a helicopter crew sent to the canyon was able to spot debris before eventually locating one hiker in the group and extricated him from the canyon. The man, Ed Smith, was severely cold and was transported to a local hospital.
Smith was a physician associate and served over 20 years in the U.S. Air Force.
Video below of Utah DPS helicopter crew spotting one of the missing hikers from the air
Crews continued to search for the other two men until about 4 a.m. Tuesday before breaking. The search later resumed for the men, who reportedly had previous experience in Buckskin Gulch. Around 6:40 p.m. Tuesday, the sheriff's office confirmed that Romaniello was found dead.
In addition to this search, the sheriff's office said over the last 48 hours it has been sent out to rescue at least 10 other people from the same area, which is near "The Wave" on the Utah-Arizona border.
At over 20 miles, Buckskin Gulch is considered to be one of the most dangerous slot canyons in the U.S., with very few access or extraction points along the route.
Video below from Monday shows conditions at Buckskin Gulch (Courtesy: Meredith Perez)
“It’s almost like being in a cave that just doesn’t have a roof,” said David Rankin, who grew up ten minutes away from Buckskin Gulch.
Rankin has been studying flash floods for more than 20 years, and said Buckskin Gulch is not an area hikers would want to get stuck during flooding.
“It’s the last place you want to be when there's a flash flood coming,” said Rankin, “One of the longest in the world.”
Glen Merrill with the National Weather Service said hikers should expect to see more sudden floods this spring.
“Recently we've been seeing enhanced runoff from snowmelt due to our essentially historical snowpack across the state that we have right now,” said Merrill, “And we're also combining, you know, active spring storms where we're getting a half an inch to an inch of additional rainfall coinciding with that snow melt in some of these areas.”
Why not just close off the canyon to hikers this spring?
Rankin said it’s a very complex issue for a number of reasons.
It’s hard to imagine how people would block off the hundreds, if not thousands of slot canyons in Utah and what the benchmark for dangerous rain conditions would be.
“These thunderstorms can pop up on you what you could call micro scales,” said Rankin, “You know, there could be one isolated thunderstorm over one canyon And there might have been a 10 or 20% chance of rain that day. And that can happen almost every day in the summertime.”
Rankin and Merrill advise hikers to always check the weather ahead of time and to avoid hiking slot canyons this spring if there is even a slight chance of rain.
“I mean, my heart goes out to the people that lost loved ones and, you know, I think that education around flash floods is probably the number one tool that we can use to help people stay safe,” said Rankin.
