North Cascades National Park is beautiful...and deadly/NPS file

Trying to gauge the deadliest national park can be a challenging task because of the many variables: Traffic accidents, grizzly maulings, long falls, and boating accidents. But when you look at the death rate per park visitation, North Cascades National Park rises to the top, according to a Nevada law firm that took a close look at the numbers from 2007 to 2018.

The firm, Panish Shea & Boyle LLP, obtained National Park Service statistics from those years and reports that during that period 2,727 people died in the National Park System.

"Additionally, there were an estimated 3.5 billion recreation visits to national parks during that time frame. That equates to just under 8 deaths per 10 million visits to park sites during that time frame," the firm noted.

While Lake Mead National Recreation Area in Nevada reported the most deaths during that period, with 201, your odds of dying there are pretty small when you consider the NRA saw more than 85 million visitors during the period Panish Shea & Boyle studied.

But take a look at North Cascades, and the death rate rockets when you measure it per 10 million recreational visits. According to the law firm, the death rate at the park was 652 deaths per 10 million visits. That is a projection from the 19 deaths and 291,255 visits North Cascades saw from 2007-2018.

Denali National Park and Preserve ranked second, with a rate of 100.5 deaths per 10 million visits, while the Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River stood a surprising third, with 68.5 deaths per 10 million visits.

"We discovered that while popular national parks such as the Grand Canyon do have a significant amount of deaths, compared to the number of visitors they're not one of the most dangerous in the country," said Mariela Corella, a search and outreach specialist with 1Point21 Interactive, which provided the graphics to illustrate the numbers.

Deadliest national parks/1Point 21 Interactive

What other data did the analysis glean?

• Men represented 81 percent of the fatalities.
• With 668 deaths, drowning was the leading cause of death, with motor vehicle accidents ranking second (475).
• There were 260 suicides reported, with New River Gorge National Park and Preserve (21), the Natchez Trace Parkway (19), and Blue Ridge Parkway (19), claiming the most.
• Wildlife caused just eight deaths over the period.
• While Lake Mead had the most drownings, with 89, Cape Hatteras National Seashore reported 47 and Glen Canyon National Recreation Area had 35.

The high incidence of suicides at New River Gorge in southern West Virginia and Natchez Trace in Tennessee and Mississippi are likely due to bridges located within their respective areas that have become locally known as “suicide bridges.”

At 876 feet, the New River Gorge Bridge is the third-highest vehicular bridge in the United States. However, despite the staggering height, there are a distinct lack of barriers on the sides of the bridge. These conditions have made the bridge a famous location for BASE jumpers – and an unfortunately common site for suicides.

The Natchez Trace Parkway Bridge is a double arch bridge located at the northern end of the Parkway in Williamson County, Tennessee. Much like the New River Gorge Bridge, this site has become well known as a site for suicides – so much so that in 2011, suicide prevention hotline signs were posted along the bridge to would-be jumpers.