TL;DR: The National Park Service recovered and identified two Texas hikers killed in an August 29 flash flood in Bright Angel Canyon while search teams continue looking for a third member of their group.
The National Park Service confirmed on September 1, 2026, that searchers had recovered the bodies of two hikers swept up in a destructive flash flood in Bright Angel Canyon on August 29.
According to the Two Deceased Hikers Recovered and Identified Following Flash Flood - Grand Canyon National Park (U.S. National Park Service), the men were identified as John Giusti, 46, and Brent Rosenkranz, 42, both of Granbury, Texas. One other member of their hiking party remained missing, and search and rescue operations were continuing to locate that hiker and to account for anyone else who may have been in the affected area when the water struck.
The announcement closed a weekend of large-scale rescues and opened a focused recovery mission in one of the most confined and damaged sections of the inner canyon.
What happened on August 29
The flood hit Bright Angel Canyon and the Phantom Ranch area on Saturday afternoon, a corridor popular with backpackers, rim-to-rim hikers and river travelers.
According to Searchers to use cadaver dogs in Grand Canyon following deadly flash flood - ABC News, the water rose about 2:30 p.m. local time Saturday in Bright Angel Canyon and the Phantom Ranch area. The BBC placed the start at around 14:30 local time, describing floodwater that wiped out footbridges and propelled boulders downstream, in One still missing after Grand Canyon floods kill two and prompt rescue efforts.
The torrent moved down Bright Angel Creek, which flows into the Colorado River near Phantom Ranch. That creekside corridor holds historic dormitories, a canteen and a campground used as a stopover for river rafters and hikers traveling between the rims, according to Update: Officials release IDs of 2 deceased hikers recovered from Grand Canyon flood.
Survivors described a sudden turn from a pleasant day to chaos, with people shouting and running for higher ground. Hiker Daniel Evans told The Associated Press that rain fell several times before the worst 30-minute downpour Saturday afternoon. He had planned to rest through the hot day and spend the night near the hard-hit Bright Angel Campground area.
Evans said rangers first told him conditions looked safe, then told him it was time to leave as rain intensified. While packing, he said he kept watching upstream:
"I'm just keeping my eyes upstream, just praying that a wall of water isn't coming toward us."
Other visitors described rangers warning of rockslides and watching logs and debris roll down the river as they waited for rescue.
Who the missing-party search involves
The three friends entered the Grand Canyon together Friday for a trip they had been eagerly anticipating, according to a joint family statement described by ABC News. The families last spoke to them Thursday evening, knew they reached Bright Angel Campground Friday and went exploring Saturday, and had not heard from them since.
Family members identified the first victim as Dr. John Giusti, 46, a Texas chiropractor and married father of three daughters. The second victim was identified by family as Brent Rosenkranz, 42, of Granbury, Texas, who owned a martial arts studio, according to The Associated Press reporting. The person who remained missing was identified in a joint statement on behalf of the Giusti, Rosenkranz and Smith families as Timothy Allen Smith, 53.
The National Park Service did not release the missing hiker's name in its September 1 news release. It said Grand Canyon National Park was coordinating the response with the NPS Investigative Services Branch, Coconino County Search and Rescue, and U.S. Border Patrol Search, Trauma, and Rescue.
Anyone with information about individuals hiking or backpacking in Bright Angel Canyon or the surrounding area on August 29 was asked to contact the NPS Investigative Services Branch Tip Line at 888-653-0009. ABC News reported that the Park Service also asked anyone who had a campground reservation in the affected corridor to provide information.
How the rescue scaled to about 80 evacuations
The initial missing-person picture was confused because the canyon holds both permitted overnight campers and day hikers who do not need permits.
ABC News reported that the current missing-person count was based on overnight camping permits, while officials acknowledged additional day hikers without permits could also be missing. Incident Commander Dave Black said:
"There are day hikers that come in the canyon that we don't know about."
More than 20 people had initially been reported missing, and 62 individuals were air evacuated from Phantom Ranch and the lower North Kaibab Trail on Sunday, according to Sunday statements described by ABC News. By Monday evening, officials said about 80 others had been rescued over the weekend.
The Associated Press reported that 45 people were rescued by sunset Saturday using night vision and other equipment, and 37 more were evacuated Sunday. ABC News reported 82 people were rescued from the canyon, most by helicopter, while a couple of people were able to hike out. The BBC reported an initial 45 evacuated by air Saturday and a remaining group of 37 evacuated by Sunday afternoon from Phantom Ranch, one of the hardest-hit areas.
Incident Commander Dave Black told reporters Monday that rangers had worked tirelessly to reduce an earlier figure of 30 unaccounted people to one confirmed missing hiker, plus the need to verify whether unpermitted day users remained unaccounted for. He said crews had worked incredibly hard trying to get the situation under control.
For backcountry readiness, the numbers underline a hard lesson: a permit manifest does not show everyone in a narrow desert canyon. Groups should leave a detailed trip plan with someone outside the canyon, including trail segments, camp locations and check-in times.
Why access and water systems failed together
The flood caused severe damage to both trail infrastructure and the park's water supply.
The National Park Service said nearly all footbridges spanning Bright Angel Creek were destroyed, eliminating hiker access across the creek. The BBC listed closures including Phantom Ranch, Bright Angel Campground, the entire North Kaibab Trail to Phantom Ranch, Black Bridge, Silver Bridge and the Colorado River.
A handout image released August 30 showed remnants of stone bridge pylons along Bright Angel Creek after the footbridge was destroyed. The NPS earlier said it had found the body of a 46-year-old man near Crystal Rapids along the Colorado River.
The Associated Press reported that Saturday's flood severely damaged the only water pipeline serving Grand Canyon National Park. Officials barred tourists from staying at lodges and hotels inside the park and issued emergency water restrictions for year-round residents. A $208 million rehabilitation of the pipeline and upgrades to the associated water delivery system had started in 2023 as a crucial investment to ensure the park could meet resident and visitor needs, with completion expected next year, though that timeline was now unclear.
Deputy Superintendent Brian Drapeaux said water-level gauges installed in Bright Angel Creek following last year's Dragon Bravo Fire on the North Rim started to alert officials to rising water, then went offline as water progressed down the creek and picked up speed and destructive force. It was unclear why the system stopped working, though debris filling the creek could have knocked it offline.
That fire history mattered. The Associated Press reported rain fell on part of the Dragon Bravo Fire scar, a burn area left by a lightning-caused wildfire in July 2025 that burned for days before exploding into a fast-moving conflagration that forced evacuations and consumed the historic Grand Canyon Lodge, some cabins and other structures on the North Rim.
What searchers planned next
Officials said weather was expected to be clear Tuesday for the first time since Saturday afternoon's flood, allowing ground crews to reach hard-hit areas.
Black said four teams with cadaver dogs were planning to search the Bright Angel Creek and Phantom Ranch areas Tuesday. A Border Patrol technical search team would search for the remaining confirmed missing person, with Bluetooth technology and a drone also to be used. The BBC reported crews would deploy Tuesday morning to search the area between Phantom Ranch and Cottonwood Manzanita, while further heavy rain was forecast overnight Monday into Tuesday with an elevated risk of additional flash flooding.
Black added:
"We are absolutely holding out hope that that person is still alive."
Wilderness-readiness takeaways from Bright Angel Canyon
Summer in Grand Canyon can be particularly dangerous because of flash flooding that accompanies the monsoon, or rainy season, when clear days can quickly give way to thunderstorms and downpours, according to The Associated Press.
UCLA hydroclimatologist A. Park Williams said this year's monsoon was especially intense because of a higher amount of atmospheric water vapor, mostly because of a strong El Niño. The Associated Press also cited a study published in the journal Weather and Climate Extremes finding that short-term intense summer downpours in the West, akin to the one that hit the Grand Canyon, have become 10% stronger since 2000.
For hikers and backpackers, the operational details point to practical habits:
- Treat a burn scar upstream as a higher-hazard zone, since the Dragon Bravo scar fed the same creek system that flooded.
- Do not rely on a single warning gauge or phone alert in a deep canyon where systems can go offline during the event.
- When rangers order movement, move immediately to high ground, as Evans did after being told it was time to go.
- Avoid camping in the lowest ground beside the creek when monsoon storms are possible, and keep eyes upstream during sustained rain.
- Carry a way to shelter, signal and stay warm overnight if bridges are destroyed and hiking out becomes impossible.
The search for the third hiker and the effort to confirm that no other day users remained missing continued under the multiagency command as the park kept the inner-canyon closures in place.