Great Smoky Mountain National Park rangers found a man dead in the Abrams Creek Saturday.
Rangers responded to a report of a possible drowning along the creek. After searching the area, they found 56-year-old James Baker from Hanover, Penn. dead in the creek about one and a half miles from the Abrams Falls Trailhead.
Rangers said the recovery required the park's technical rescue team because of the steep terrain. A medical examiner will release the cause of death once their report is finished.
The Abrams Falls trail is notorious for being one of the most dangerous hikes in the park, largely because of drowning and hypothermia hazards. In 2008, an issue of Backpacker Magazine listed the trail as the 9th most dangerous hike in America, pointing to dozens of deaths since 1971 as a result of water incidents.
This is the second death in the park in less than a week. Last Sunday, another man slipped and fell to his death while trying to scale the Ramsey Cascades. Rangers identified him as 37-year-old Michal Bojko. They said he had been living in Sevier County for the past few years, but was originally from the Czech Republic.