Suicides in National Parks Increase in 2008

Freshly unemployed, former business executive Bruce J. Colburn flew to the far northwest corner of Montana in search of a place to die.

In this file photo, tourists stand on an overlook on the south rim of the Grand Canyon. More suicides occur in Grand Canyon than any other park in recent years.

(AP Photo)

In early October, he paid a hotel clerk to drive him into Glacier National Park. He spent the night in a campground and then made his way on foot to a valley between two deep glacial lakes. On a forested slope not far from the trail, he shot himself in the chest with a handgun, according to park officials.

Although his motivation remains unclear, investigators found evidence on a computer that the 53-year-old Reading, Pa., resident had searched for information about suicide in Glacier park, according to Patrick Suddath, branch chief of ranger operations at Glacier.

"He clearly intended to come here for that purpose," said Suddath, who led an extensive search after the man was reported missing.

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Colburn was one of at least 33 people who chose to end their lives last year in a national park. The number is higher than recent years, although the National Park Service hasn't consistently tracked suicides.

"It's some place where, toward the end of someone's life, when they're feeling a total sense of despondency, they want to return to a place of natural beauty ... for their final moments," Suddath said.

Park officials estimate people made more than 274 million visits to the country's 391 national park units last year. The vast majority are intent on seeing breathtaking vistas, wildlife in its natural habitat or places where history was made, such as the Gettysburg battlefield. A troubled few came to end their lives. Among them:

A 46-year-old carpenter with cancer climbed into a canoe and vanished in Everglades National Park.

A 49-year-old builder blamed the economy in a note he left for his ex-wife and attorney before killing himself at the edge of the woods at Georgia's Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park.

A 65-year-old university biology professor disappeared into Utah's Canyonlands National Park, telling relatives in a note he was returning "body and soul to nature."