A hiker from Fairfax, Virginia, was reported unresponsive on the West Rim Trail at Utah’s Zion National Park Friday and was later declared dead after treatment inside the park failed. 

Park officials did not name the victim but said he was 63 and from San Diego. His daughter identified him as Michael Keating of Fairfax, Virginia, a U.S. Naval Academy graduate with experience flying four-engine Lockheed P3 Orion planes. “He was an amazing man and the best father in the world,” Caroline Keating told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.


Park visitors were the first to spot Mr. Keating, and some with emergency medical skills were doing CPR on him when rangers arrived, park officials said in a release.

The rangers tried CPR and used an automated external defibrillator. After 90 minutes without success, Mr. Keating was pronounced dead.

The cause of death was “consistent with a cardiac event,” park officials said.

“All of us at Zion extend our deepest condolences to this hiker’s family. We also want to express thanks to the bystanders who assisted by performing CPR,” Zion National Park Superintendent Jeff Bradybaugh said in a statement.

The death is now being investigated by the National Park Service, the local Washington County Sheriff’s Office and the Utah Office of the Medical Examiner.

• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.