Randi Minetor - Death in Rocky Mountain National Park: Accidents and Foolhardiness on the Continental Divide

Randi Minetor is the author of more than sixty books, including Historic Rocky Mountain National Park, Historic Glacier National Park, and five other books in the Death in the Parks series: Death in Glacier National Park, Death in Zion National Park, Death on Mount Washington, Death on Katahdin, and Death in Acadia. She has also written eight hiking guides to New York State, and she collaborates with her husband, photographer Nic Minetor, on books in FalconGuides Birding Field Guides and Best Easy Bird Guides series. The Minetors live in upstate New York.

A BOOK OF THIS LENGTH, SCOPE, AND MAGNITUDE CANT COME TO be on its own, so I am grateful once again to everyone at Lyons Press for their participation in bringing it to fruition, especially my editor, Holly Rubino; production editor Meredith Dias; copy editor Melissa Hayes; layout artist Kerry Handel; and proofreader Shana Jones.

Don Hunter, science director at the Rocky Mountain Cat Conservancy, met with me during my site visit to Rocky Mountain and provided terrific insights about the mountain lion population in and around the park. I have relied on Craig Fuller at Aviation Archaeological Investigation and Research for information about plane crashes in national parks, and he came through once again for this book.

Most of all, I thank Regina Ryan, my agent of fourteen years, who keeps me from bankrupting myself for love of writing by helping me land projects like this one. And to all of the friends who support and encourage my writing and who are still there to forgive my long absences from the land of the living, I give my undying gratitude: Ken Horowitz and Rose-Anne Moore, Martin Winer, Paula and Rich Landis, Martha and Peter Schermerhorn, Ruth Watson and John King, Cindy Blair, Lorraine Woerner-MacGowan, Lisa Jaccoma, Bil Walters and Christine Tattersall, and all the people on the periphery who still seem happy to see me when these projects come to their logical end.

Finally, to my husband Nic, who puts up with the creepiest dinner-table conversations of any household we know, who does my laundry and makes sure I eat and get enough sleep, and who still loves me after thirty-five years together... I could not do what I do without you, my love.

List of Deaths in Rocky
Mountain National Park by Date

Note: If you know of a death in the park that is not listed here, please contact me at and I will be sure to add it to the list for the second edition of this book.