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National parks have a lot of things going for them as vacation destinations. They have natural wonders, hiking trails, and friendly rangers. What's more, on average, you'll be safer in a park than in a city.
In spite of these advantages, park visitors have to look out for themselves in most situations. The biggest risks are from what vacationers themselves do, like drinking alcohol, taking drugs, or driving recklessly. Risky behavior is even more dangerous in remote places.
Park rangers say two modern innovations generally thought of as safety enhancers don't live up to that promise. Cell phones and sport utility vehicles may actually be enhancing risk by giving tourists a false sense of security. An official recently retired from Glacier National Park in Montana, Charles Barabee Jr., says people with cell phones end up doing things they wouldn't have tried 10 years ago. In his book, Death, Daring and Disaster: Search and Rescue in National Parks, he describes not only high-drama helicopter saves but also routine hunts for boaters and hikers who missed their planned return times.
All parks have their own unique hazards. Officials at Lake Mead National Recreation Area in Boulder City, Nev., say their high-risk status comes mainly from traffic accidents. High traffic from Las Vegas is partly to blame.
At the Grand Canyon, the main peril is heat. About a third of searches and rescues are heat-related, typically hikers who wind up dehydrated. One search and rescue worker says it happens because people think it's an amusement park. Being in remote areas takes a good deal of planning.
A recent study by The Wall Street Journal ranks parks by the number of searches and rescues, serious crimes, thefts, and traffic accidents per 100,000 visitors. The parks with the safest records were: Natchez Trace Parkway, Tupelo, Miss.; Blue Ridge Parkway, Asheville, N.C.; Mount Rushmore National Memorial, Keystone, S.D.; Valley Forge National Historic Park, Valley Forge, Penn.; and Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Gatlinburg, Tenn.

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