PROVO — Police are trying to determine the cause of death of a man whose body was found by hikers in Rock Canyon on Wednesday.
Police found identification on the man, in his 20s or 30s, but his name was not released Wednesday night, pending notification of family.
Police do not suspect foul play in his death, and he did not match the description of anybody who had been reported missing.
His body was found in an open area, and the evidence appeared to point to a fall from the canyon face, according to officers.
"Right now they are taking pictures of the area, trying to see where he came from up the mountain," Provo Police Capt. Rick Healey said. "Tomorrow we'll bring mountain rescue people up here to climb the area and see what they can find as to where he may have fallen from. We don't know how he ended up at the bottom."
Police were also unable to immediately determine how long he had been in the canyon, due to the recent cold snap. Healey said police were hoping to take a core temperature sample to have a better idea of the time of death.
Healey said there was a lot of investigative work to be done, including scouring the canyon wall to look for climbing equipment or some other signs of where the man fell.
But as the sun went down and temperatures dropped Wednesday night, the biggest concern was with getting the body out of the canyon.
"It's mostly going to be a matter, at this point, of trying to get him down off the mountain and notifying the family," Healey said. "The real nuts and bolts of it are going to have more to do with if we can find where he fell from."