Steve Curry, a 71-year-old hiker from the US state of California, died Tuesday after collapsing after an hours-long hike in Death Valley National Park. It is the warmest place in the United States, where temperatures have already regularly exceeded 50 degrees Celsius this month.
Curry spoke to a reporter from the United States during his walk Los Angeles Timeswhen he took a break. The man died a few hours later.
“Why am I doing it? Why not?” Curry told the newspaper when he was resting in the rare shadow of a metal sign during his trek. A few hours later, the American collapsed. A park visitor called 911 and rangers tried to rescue him, but to no avail.
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Curry was an avid walker. As a member of a group of mountaineers, he had undergone wilderness training. Officials said the man’s death was heat-related. By the end of his walk, it was just under 50 degrees Celsius, according to the Furnace Creek Visitor’s Center.
“He had accomplished something he wanted to do,” said Rima Evans Curry, his wife. “He wanted to go to Death Valley. He wanted to go on a hike.” According to the woman, Curry was a real outdoorsman. “He was always happiest sleeping outside under the stars,” she said. “That was his joy.”
Curry is already the second hiker to die in the park this month.
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