One hiker is dead and his friend hospitalized after they ran out of water on an unmarked trail in South Dakota’s Badlands National Park.
Maxwell Right, a 22-year-old from Missouri, died on Wednesday from “suspected dehydration and exposure,” the Pennington County Sheriff’s office wrote in a news release on Facebook . His hiking companion, whose name has not been released, is a 21-year-old who was flown to a hospital.
Though the sheriff’s office initially said the two men headed out on the unmarked trail because of a “social media challenge,” Right’s sister, Lucille Right, told them that they had actually been following a trail on a hiking app.
Maxwell Right and his friend had taken the trip to celebrate his graduation from Missouri S&T, Lucille Right told The Associated Press .
Temperatures at Badlands National Park have been around 100 degrees Fahrenheit nearly every day this week, and the area has little shade, according to local news station Fox 2 Now .
In the wake of Maxwell Right’s death, officials have emphasized the importance of bringing a lot of water and staying on marked trails.
“We’ve said many times, you have to have enough water, water, water,” sheriff’s office spokesperson Helene Duhamel told local news station KSDK . “But I don’t think people understand and they underestimate the heat, especially in the Badlands.”