WILD WEST

This Obscure National Park Is the Deadliest in America

It has three times as many deaths as the next deadliest park.

It’s the deadliest national park in the country, but many Americans have never even heard of it. NBC News crunched the numbers on deaths in national parks over the last 15 years and discovered that North Cascades National Park, located near the Canadian border in Washington State, takes the top prize. The site has an average of 3.7 deaths per 100,000 visitors every year, more than three times higher than the next deadliest national park. It averages just over 25,000 visitors a year and over the past 15 years, 14 people have died. The next deadliest park was Wrangell-St. Elias National Park Reserve in Alaska, which had an average of 1.09 deaths per 100,000 visitors, followed by Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks in California, Denali National Park in Alaska, and Upper Delaware Scenic & Recreational River in New York and Pennsylvania rounding out the top five. North Cascades is very popular with alpine climbers and hikers, which could contribute to its high death rate.