Grand Canyon claims life of East Atlanta hiker

By Christian Boone

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Dunwoody native Thomas Peake’s last day began early. He and his wife Dena got up in time to see the sun rise Monday from their remote Grand Canyon campsite.

A few hours later Dena said goodbye as Thomas began a challenging eight-hour hike down the Lava Falls Route below the canyon’s North Rim. She didn’t join him but managed to share the experience via walkie talkie.

The last words she heard from her husband of three years provide a small measure of solace.

“Oh my God, the Colorado River is so beautiful,” Peake, 39, told his wife as he neared the bottom of the trail, said Dara O’Neil, a close friend of the couple. Soon after, he slipped on one of the volcanic rocks that cover the three-mile route and fell about 15 feet to his death, according to the National Park Service.

“It helps us to know he died somewhere he wanted to be,” said O’Neil. “Years ago he had rafted down the Colorado River and he remembered that spot.”

Dena Peake didn’t hear from her husband for several hours. As dusk settled on the canyon she decided to go for help, driving three hours from the Toroweap Valley to Fredonia, Ariz., to report him missing. Park rangers found Peake’s body the next morning.

“There was definitely something wrong with you if you didn’t like Thomas,” said O’Neil, who had planned to see the Peakes this weekend in Utah for a friend’s wedding. She’ll likely attend a funeral instead, though arrangements haven't been finalized.

The Georgia Tech alumnus worked as a copywriter -- or “rhetorical engineer,” as he jokingly called his vocation. Boiled peanuts were one of his passions, O’Neil said.

But Dena was Peake’s first love. O’Neil introduced them five years ago at a kickball game. His future spouse remembered him by the nickname teammates gave Peake: “Das Boot.”

As their courtship developed, Dena was struggling with her brother’s death from cancer. “Thomas got her through it,” said O’Neil, though at around the same time he was dealing with his father’s death.

She will have vivid memories of her husband's last moments, captured on film. Thomas promised to take plenty of pictures, and though his camera was mangled in the fall, park rangers found the memory card intact.

Dena’s not ready yet, O’Neil said, but one day she’ll be able to share in that final hike, seeing it just as Thomas did.