A father and daughter from Wisconsin tragically lost their lives during a hike in Utah’s Canyonlands National Park last week. The pair, identified as 52-year-old Albino Herrera Espinoza and his 23-year-old daughter Beatriz Herrera, were navigating the challenging Syncline Loop trail when they lost their way and depleted their water supply.
The Syncline Loop, a demanding 8.1-mile trail, is recognized by the National Park Service as the most difficult in the park’s Island in the Sky district. On the day of the incident, temperatures in the area exceeded 100 degrees Fahrenheit, creating a perilous environment for hikers.
In a desperate bid for help, the father and daughter sent a text message to 911. Despite the swift response from park rangers and a helicopter crew, the rescue efforts were tragically too late. The first body was discovered at 5:45 p.m. in the Upheaval Dome area, with the second found nearby approximately 15 minutes later.
Due to the hazardous nature of the terrain, a helicopter team from the Department of Public Safety was required to extract the bodies on the following day. The victims, residents of Green Bay, were officially identified on Monday. The San Juan County Sheriff’s Office and the National Park Service are investigating the deaths as heat-related incidents.
Albino Herrera Espinoza and his wife, Maria Carmen Herrera, are the proprietors of the El Sarape restaurants in Green Bay and Ashwaubenon. The last update on Albino’s Facebook profile was on July 3, featuring a photo of him and Beatriz posing in front of a rock formation. On Father’s Day, he posted a picture of the two of them enjoying a go-cart ride.
The San Juan County Sheriff’s Office expressed their deepest condolences to the family and friends of Albino and Beatriz in an official statement. They also thanked their partners for their assistance during the tragic incident.
In a separate incident on the same day, a 30-year-old woman was found dead on a trail in Snow Canyon National Park, approximately five hours from Canyonlands. The woman, who remains unidentified, was discovered as first responders were attending to two other hikers suffering from a heat-related incident.