Hiker Who Died in Death Valley Spoke to Reporter About Risking Extreme Heat Hours Earlier: 'Why Not?'

"The heat is not a foe that you can overcome," said the wife of Steve Curry

A 71-year-old man who died last week at a trailhead in Death Valley National Park spoke to a reporter about braving the extreme heat hours before his death.

Steve Curry, who has been identified as the victim by the Inyo County Coroner's Office, spoke to The Los Angeles Times hours before collapsing outside the restroom at the Golden Canyon hiking trail on Tuesday, CW affiliate KTLA-TV, NBC affiliate KNBC-TV and The Independent reported. That day, temperatures in the park reached 121 degrees.

Curry told the reporter that he’d hiked from Golden Canyon to Zabriskie Point that morning. "Everything is hot here," he said.

In a follow-up story published after his death, The Los Angeles Times reported that when asked why he was attempting the hike, he answered, “Why not?” 

Related: 2 Hikers Found Dead in Nevada State Park as Temperatures Reached 114 Degrees

The National Park Service said in a news release that the Los Angeles man, who was carrying a backpack and was sporting a sunhat and hiking gear, had just finished hiking the "popular trail" when other visitors at the park noticed the man had collapsed and called 911 at around 3:40 p.m. local time.

Despite CPR and an automated external defibrillator (AED), park rangers were not able to save Curry.

Authorities believed his death was possibly heat-related, though an official cause of death has not yet been determined, per KTLA-TV and the Times.

"The official temperature at the nearby Furnace Creek area was 121°F around the time of Curry’s death," park officials said in their statement. "Actual temperatures inside Golden Canyon were likely much higher, due to canyon walls radiating the sun’s heat."

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Rima Curry, his wife of nearly 30 years, told KNBC-TV that her late husband enjoyed rock climbing, mountain biking and hiking.

“We were supposed to grow old together, sit on our rocking chairs on the porch," she said while speaking with the Times.

Related: Mountain Biker Helped Save 4 Hikers Before He Died in Hot Calif. Valley

Times Reporter Hayley Smith told KNBC-TV that she and the photographer tried to help him.

"We offered him water, we offered him a ride. We said, ‘Do you want to sit in our car in the air conditioning for a little while?’ But he was really determined to finish what he had started," she said, adding they were both "pretty shaken up" by his death.

Rima didn't find out about her husband's death until Thursday, when the coroner left a note on her door asking her to call. "Boy, talk about a gut punch," she told KNBC-TV.

Related: Man Dies After Collapsing Outside Restroom in Death Valley National Park amid 121-Degree Heat

In their statement, park officials noted Curry's death was "possibly" the second heat-related fatality in Death Valley this summer. On July 3, a 65-year-old man was found dead inside a car that had two flat tires and a broken air conditioning system.

"Park rangers encourage people to visit Death Valley safely in the summer by sightseeing short distances from their air-conditioned cars or hiking in the park’s cooler mountains," the agency said. "They do not recommend hiking at low elevations after 10:00 am."

Speaking with KNBC-TV, Rima encouraged others to take excessive heat seriously

"The heat is not a foe that you can overcome," she told the outlet. "Your body can only take so much."

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