Friday, May 9, 1997 was a good day to be alive in Utah. The late morning sun was creeping

over the canyon walls of Zion National Park. Streams of sunlight illuminate the rich,

red-colored stone while the lush greenery carpeting the canyon floors seemed to stretch out

their arms, welcoming the morning warmth. Donald and Glenda Cox had been on the trails

early that day, and had already conquered the observation point trail. A strenuous,

bucket-list worthy hike, and were heading down the series of switchbacks leading back

to the trailhead. While pausing for a break, they heard a commotion, scuffling. They

turned their heads straight up towards the source of the sound as rocks and rubble began

to fall off the cliff above them. I glued to the scene unfolding hundreds of feet overhead,

they saw a body. It came cartwheeling over the edge and tumbled down the cliff face

as the couple watched in horror. Glenda quickly grabbed her binoculars, scrambling to visualize

where the body had landed. The two waited with tightened chests, knowing the heartbreaking

screams of a hiking partner would soon echo throughout the canyon, but they heard nothing.

No yelling, no calling out a name, no cries of agony. As silence filled the air, they

knew it was up to them to find help. As Donald and Glenda hurried down the trail to the

Ranger Station to alert park rangers of the situation, James Bauderini stood at the edge

of observation point trail, gazing quietly down the cliff where his wife Patricia had just lost

her life. Welcome to National Park after dark.

Hey everybody, welcome back to National Park after dark, I'm Cassie and I'm Danielle.

And I think this week we just kind of want to go straight into our story. But before we

do that, if you haven't visited our page around page, we do have three extra stories on

there right now. We have two campfire stories and we have a bonus listener story that we

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