A Michigan woman was killed last week when she lost control of the motorcycle she was riding and crashed on the Shafer Trail just outside of Canyonlands National Park’s Island in the Sky District.
Ann Redner, 54, of Rochester Hills, Michigan, was riding with another motorcyclist on Thursday, Oct. 12, in an area with winding sections of trail and sheer cliffs at the time of the accident. Her body fell from the trail over a 150-foot cliff, and emergency personnel who responded to the scene pronounced her dead, the San Juan County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
The San Juan and Grand county sheriff’s offices, with the help of the Grand County Search and Rescue Team and the National Park Service, were able to recover Redner’s body from the bottom of the cliff.
Her body was transported to the Utah Office of the Medical Examiner in Salt Lake City; no foul play is suspected, according to the San Juan County Sheriff’s Office.
Geof Innis, who administers the Facebook page Summit Pics, said in a Facebook post that Redner touched people around the world with her warm and friendly demeanor.
“She was extremely generous, helpful and willing to learn anything,” Innis wrote.
Redner was passionate about the sport of dual sport adventure riding, he wrote, and she traveled all over the U.S., as well as Morocco, Argentina and the United Kingdom.
“Ann died doing what she loved,” he wrote. “Her passion (was) for motorcycles and adventure. She shared that passion. It was infectious. I find peace in this fact.”
