Man Charged In Grand Canyon Hike That Broke Distancing Rules: DOJ

PHOENIX, AZ — A 33-year-old Washington state man has been federally charged for leading a 153-person hike across the Grand Canyon in 2020, according to a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court.

Joseph Don Mount was charged Tuesday with knowingly giving a false report or false information about the hike, in addition to interfering with a government employee or agent.

Additionally, Mount was charged with engaging or soliciting business in a park area without a permit, violating the park's group size limit and violating the park's COVID-19 mitigation efforts, the complaint said.

Mount previously served as the chief operating officer at a medical clinic in Chehalis, Washington, but no longer works there, according to the Daily Beast.

The hike took place on Oct. 24, when Mount led a rim-to-rim hiking group from the North Rim of the park to the South Rim, the complaint said.

Mount collected thousands of dollars from registration fees in exchange for services, such as guide services, commercial bus transportation and hotel lodging, according to the complaint.

The complaint said that Mount tried to encourage participants to travel to the Grand Canyon for the October hike and provided participants tips and information to get around park laws, while denying leading any large-scale groups to park officials throughout.

Hikes at the national park have been restricted from 30 or fewer to 11 during the COVID-19 pandemic, and groups may not break into smaller ones to accommodate group size, the complaint said.

The Grand Canyon's permits office was tipped off about the October hike on Sept. 17, with a person submitting several Facebook screenshots that discussed the planned hike, according to the complaint.

At one point, Mount posted on Facebook, according to the complaint: "112 COMMITTED HIKERS COMING FROM 12 DIFFERENT STATES!!!" adding, "If you want to keep inviting friends, I am determined to make this work for as many who want to go!"

Additional screenshots from Mount's Facebook page that were submitted to the office included one where Mount said: "But there are precautions we might need to take so as to [sic] not draw attention to such a large group while on the trail. A natural spread might be best. Will research this more and present details/hiking plans in posts to follow over the coming weeks."

Despite his posts on Facebook, Mount told a person in the Grand Canyon's Commercial Permits Office that he was only planning to take a group of 12 people rim-to-rim, despite the fact that his Facebook group page had 118 people registered to hike on that date, the complaint said.

On Sept. 23, two days after being informed of the Grand Canyon's hiking group size limits, Mount posted on Facebook, according to the complaint: "ONE MORE DAY TO SIGN UP!"

In that post, Mount asked participants to answer his "9 questions," which included carpool groups, cabin arrangements, gender preferences, walkie talkie subgroups and prior rim-to-rim experience, the complaint said.

On Oct. 1, Mount also shared a housing arrangement document, titled "Grand Canyon R2R Housing" on Oct. 1, according to the complaint.

Mount also posted a draft "preliminary hour-by-hour itinerary" on Oct. 1, covering several days of hiking, the complaint said.

A witness said that Mount was identified as the group leader and charged attendees $95 per person, via Venmo, to participate in the rim-to-rim hike, according to the complaint.

Mount then posted to Facebook an "important announcement" on Oct. 5, where he told the group to submit any questions to him to answer, the complaint said.

"As trip leader, this helps prevent redundancy," Mount's post said, according to the complaint.

A park ranger joined the Facebook group for the hike on Oct. 6, allowing park investigators to see all past, present and future group-related posts and comments, the complaint said.

Mount continued to deny to park officials that he was planning a large-scale rim-to-rim hike on Oct. 8, even though there were more than 170 participants registered for it at that point, the complaint said.

Mount would go on to publish a disclaimer about the event, including the following comments, according to the complaint:

• "It's best I back down as trip leader. However, the cabins/hotels in Kanab are still booked. You still have a bed spot if you want it ... anyone who makes it to the South Rim October 24th will have a guaranteed ride back to the North Rim."
• "As you could imagine, a park official telling me I can't hike the R2R with more than 11 people isn't going to prevent me from doing one of the greatest hikes in the planet."
• "Ranger Hopp — this is my plausible deniability. I am no longer leading a group through Grand Canyon on 10/24. I am simply going with my 10 (or less) closest friend [sic] and family."
• "Remember — there is nothing stopping you from hiking the Grand Canyon on this day. There is nothing stopping you from doing a little research to be best prepared. However, there is now a target on my back and this is the best way I know to still hike R2R and not be tied to any of you."
• "I hope you all recognize the position I'm in. I've spent countless hours organizing this, but when Ranger Hopp calls up ... I must separate myself from all of you."

On Oct. 22, Mount posted a selfie with three white passenger vans, writing: "Picking up the vans in Vegas. Shout out to my van drivers ... for helping make all this work," the complaint said.

Mount arrived at the North Kaibab trailhead at the park's North Rim around 5 a.m. Oct. 24, with a witness reporting 50 people mingling at the trailhead's water station, according to the complaint.

The same witness saw clusters of people, several of which were in excess of the 11-person limit, leave the trailhead between 5 and 5:40 a.m., the complaint said.

An undercover park ranger at the trailhead reported seeing 200-250 hikers depart from the trailhead between 4:45 and 6:30 a.m., saying, "Many of the hikers told me that they were part of a large group of a 100 or more from all over," according to the complaint.

A park ranger testified that he saw approximately 150 people enter the Manzanita day use area between 7:30 and 8 a.m., with 70 people in the area, which is roughly the size of half a basketball court, at its peak, the complaint said.

"In my 7 months of work ... I have never have [sic] witnessed so many individuals travelling in the same direction in such a condensed period of time and space," Ranger Cody Allinson said.

Allinson added that the hikers weren't able to properly socially distance themselves, since most weren't wearing masks or any type of face covering, according to the complaint.

Several park visitors testified that they encountered a large group of hikers that weren't socially distanced or wearing masks, the complaint said.

Additionally, park investigators found that Mount told shuttle bus drivers to disregard the park's COVID-19 mitigation plan, by transporting more than the allowed number (10 people per bus ride) to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon on Oct. 25, according to the complaint.

Multiple parks service investigators said that hikers refused to talk to them or disclose Mount's location, the complaint said.