Hot Springs National Park (AR)
Three Arrested For Outstanding Warrants, Arson

Ranger Andy Griggs came upon an unoccupied suspicious vehicle on Blacksnake Road inside the park while on patrol on Friday, February 21st. A routine check on the vehicle’s tag indicated that the registered owner had extensive felony arrests on his record and that he was operating it with a suspended driver’s license.

This area of the park has been a popular area for "scrappers" looking for old bottles and other historic artifacts. Several archaeological sites are in this same area.

Chief Ranger John Hughes, Operations Supervisor Jeff Johnson, Ranger Clint Forte and his canine partner, “Saki,” responded. While waiting for additional park units to arrive, a single gunshot was heard from a distance.

Rangers searched the area for approximately an hour, eventually coming upon the owner of the vehicle and another man, who admitted that they had been looking in the area for items that could be taken to a scrap yard.

While the on-scene interviews were being conducted, a third man was found a short distance away from the truck. As he was being interviewed, a plume of smoke was seen coming from the mountainside in an area where he’d come from. The man admitted to starting the wildfire to draw attention to himself, as he felt that he was lost in the woods and hoped that his two companions would see the smoke and come to his aid.

NPS fire crews, Forest Service firefighters and Hot Springs Fire Department personnel responded to fight the fire. At the time, the area was under a burn ban, as the park had not received any measurable rain for quite some time and winds were gusting to approximately 20 mph with the relative humidity at 16%. By the time the fire was completely extinguished, an acre-and-a-half of park land had burned.

The man who started the fire will be charged in federal court once the case has been turned over to the US attorney. The other two men were both taken into custody, as they were both wanted on outstanding warrants from another jurisdiction.

Forte is the case agent for the arson; Jeff Johnson served as the incident commander for the fire

This signalling technique is not recommended

Grand Canyon National Park (AZ)
Human Remains Found In Hermit Creek Drainage

Rangers recently recovered skeletal remains from the Hermit Creek drainage within Grand Canyon National Park. The remains have been confirmed by the Coconino County Medical Examiner as human.

These remains, which were found in an area with abandoned camping gear nearby, may be associated with the 2010 disappearance of a man from Tucson.

DNA testing is being conducted to positively identify the remains. An investigation is being conducted by the National Park Service and the Coconino County Medical Examiner.

This is not that uncommon an occurrence at Grand Canyon

Maybe Darwin was wrong after all?
As for the human remains, how could they have remained undiscovered for so long as heavily travelled and explored as the canyon is?

Like many national parks, Grand Canyon has it places where people congregate and other locations that will not see human presence for years. The Bright Angel and Kaibab Trails see heavy traffic almost year round, but venture only a few miles away and you can find true solitude - absolutely no one else around. Many of the trails that serve sections of the park are unmaintained, and access can be quite tricky. I have spent a week in the section of the canyon about five airline miles from the BA-K trail corridor. Aside from my two companions, there was no one around.

I was talking with a member of the NPS staff and she mentioned going out for a stroll, off trail, not at all very far from the South Rim village, and finding a corpse hanging from a tree limb (suicide) She remarked that she had finally found her man.

Grand Canyon usually has a very high number of SAR operations relative to other national parks, a combination of high visitation figures and very rough terrain. They don't always get them all...

Hikermor
Sounds like a place I'd like to do some backpacking in.
At least your friend has a sense of humor.

This doesn't surprise me at all. My only experience in the Grand Canyon was two guided float trips down the river from Marble Canyon to Whitmore Wash. They were geology oriented trips, so we did lots of short day hikes up various side canyons. Even based on that very limited experience, I can easily imagine how a body might not be found for many years.

Even some of the standard "easy hikes" cross ledges that while they are easy to traverse, you definately wouldn't want to trip over your shoe laces, 'cause if you fell you could easily die. There are a nearly infinate number of small side canyons, washes, etc. Many of these are very narrow little slots, and very deep. If you were hiking off a main trail and fell down into one of those spots it might be a long time (if ever) before someone found your remains.

AKSAR
There are patches of wilderness in L.A. where people have been killed and not found for extended periods of time. I remember a story where someone drove off the road into one and perished. It was several years before he was found. So I can see what you and Hikermor mean. I had thought the canyon to be more extensively explored than it is. Thanks to both of you for clearing that up.

An inert individual is rather hard to find - that is why there is all the emphasis on proactive signalling for those in difficulty. This is even more so if you are prone and surrounded by vegetation or under trees, wearing dull pastel colors. You may be there a very long time.

Some years ago we were involved in a search at Organ Pipe National Monument for a lost hiker. The country was very rough - vertical cliffs, deep canyons, and rotten rock. People in the field thought they could smell the body (it's a very distinctive smell) but the body AFAIK has never been recovered...

Yeah, I know that smell all to well. Gangrene too.