This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A 37-year-old man from California was killed on Saturday after he left a popular canyon hike in Kane County known as The Wave and fell 100 feet down a cliff trying to make his way in the dark.
Tracy Glover, chief deputy with the Kane County Sheriff's Office, said on Wednesday that Bo Pian had a permit to hike on Saturday in the popular sandstone sculpted canyon on the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Others saw him hiking alone.
Glover said it was dark Saturday night because there was no moon, and it was determined that Bo had a defective flashlight when he went over the cliff.
The body was sent the Medical Examiner's Office for an autopsy, and the death appears accidental.
"It was just an unfortunate accident," Glover said.
He said the body was discovered on Sunday by hikers in slot canyon in Buckskin Gulch, an area about a mile from The Wave that is also popular with visitors.
Investigators do not know whether Bo was continuing to explore the area after leaving The Wave or lost his way on the trail back to his car.
Glover said Bo, originally from China, was working for Samsung Information Systems America in San Jose, Calif., and had been documenting his trip to southern Utah on Facebook.