California’s Death Valley National Park has claimed another life in its second heat-related death of the summer, park officials said Monday.
On Aug. 1, a day where temperatures reached nearly 120 degrees Fahrenheit (48.3 degrees Celsius), bystanders saw a man stumble back from the Natural Bridge Trailhead, a one-mile roundtrip trail, according to a news release.
The man, identified as 57-year-old Peter Hayes Robino of Duarte, California, declined their help. Witnesses said his responses did not make sense. He returned to his car and drove off a 20-foot embankment at the edge of the parking lot, the news release said.
It sounds like he was suffering heat-related delirium and should have been prevented from leaving and trying to drive. Most people are unconfrontational though, and may not have even realized what they were seeing, symptomatically.
But as we keep having to remind people, it’s Death fucking Valley. Death is literally there in the name. If you don’t come prepared then ya pays yer nickel and takes yer chances.