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Body of missing hiker found in Zion National Park

FILE - This Sept. 15, 2015, file photo, shows Zion National Park near Springdale, Utah. Zion National Park.

The body of a 47-year-old man reported missing Monday afternoon in Zion National Park was found Wednesday at the end of a dead-end spur off the trail he was hiking.

A friend dropped Maurice Harris off at the East Rim trailhead about 4 p.m. Monday, intending to pick him up later at the Weeping Rock shuttle stop after the nearly 11-mile hike. When Harris didn’t return by 10 p.m., the friend called for help, according to a news release from the park.

Crews found Harris, who is from northern Utah, about 1 p.m. Wednesday at the end of the 9-mile-long Deertrap Mountain Trail, a dead-end spur off the East Rim Trail. Officials haven’t determined how the man died, but he could have been lost, spokeswoman Alyssa Baltrus said.

Baltrus described the man as an experienced hiker.

“There is a possibility that he made a wrong turn. Then, walking out on Deertrap, it’s a pretty straight walk. There’s nothing to tell him he’s going the wrong direction,” Baltrus said.

More than 40 people took part in the search, including staffers from Kane and Washington counties, the Utah Department of Public Safety and Zion and Grand Canyon national parks.