Canfield hiker dies of heat exhaustion

The woman was on a three-day trip when the accident happened.
By JEANNE STARMACK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
RAPID CITY, S.D. -- A Canfield Township woman died of apparent heat exhaustion and dehydration while hiking in Badlands National Park.
Joan Kovach, 51, of Samuel Court, had traveled to the park alone on a three-day trip, said her husband, Michael. She died Sunday.
"I wouldn't think anything of it -- her hitting the trail," Kovach said. "We'd hiked together all over the Southwest."
He said his wife also hiked often in Mill Creek Park.
She was to return home Monday. "It's a total shock," he said.
Mrs. Kovach was hiking on a short but steep trail when the temperature exceeded 115 degrees, chief park ranger Mark Gorman said.
She was found about 12:45 p.m. after people in the parking lot at the bottom of the trail spotted her, he said. He said they saw her body lying in a shallow ravine several feet from the trail.
He said rangers remembered seeing her leave the visitors center shortly after 11 a.m.
Gorman said the trail Mrs. Kovach was on is only two-tenths of a mile long, but very steep with no shade. It's a very popular trail, he said -- it allows hikers access to a network of higher trails, and they like the view it offers.
Unknown cause
Michael Kovach said he was told by a ranger at the park who'd investigated the accident that his wife fell about 25 feet before she died. He said an autopsy performed Tuesday showed she died from the heat, but he believed she was incapacitated from the fall before that happened, he said.
Gorman said that at first, investigators thought that was true. A small rock formation on the side of the hill had crumbled, and it was originally thought that she'd stood on it and fallen.
But a forensic pathologist for the state who performed the autopsy in Sioux Falls, S.D., reported that he'd found no evidence to suggest she died after a fall, Gorman said.
The pathologist, Dr. Brad Randolph, was unavailable Wednesday for comment.
Gorman, who was lead investigator in the death, said he found evidence that she pushed and pulled herself down the trail, likely because she was being overcome by the heat and trying to rescue herself. She spent a lot of time on the ground trying to lower herself down, he said.
Gorman said that Mrs. Kovach wasn't carrying much water with her, and that in such extreme heat and with no shade, people can get into trouble quickly.
Mrs. Kovach was co-owner of City Machine Technologies Inc. in Youngstown, which she started with her husband in 1985. She leaves three daughters, Claudia Lynne, Colleen Michelle and Caryn Christine; and a son, Michael John.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.