The Yukon’s chief coroner has ruled an Ontario hiker who was found dead in Kluane National Park last summer drowned attempting to cross a creek, likely because of a heavy backpack he wasn’t able to ditch.

Yoichi Kubota died July 28, according to a judgment of inquiry released by coroner Kirsten Macdonald.

His body was found strapped into a 65-litre hiking backpack.

His right arm was still within the shoulder strap and the waist belt was securely fastened, the chief coroner noted. The left strap was wrapped around Kubota’s left wrist.

The backpack weighed approximately 36 kilograms while Kubota weighed 65 kilograms.

“The weight/inability to quickly remove the backpack in the event of an emergency would have made it very difficult for Mr. Kubota to extricate himself from the cold, fast-moving creek water,” Macdonald wrote.

The judgment of inquiry, dated Oct. 9, was only recently released to the public.

“There was fluid, frothy substance, and sand found in the stomach, mouth and airways,” Macdonald wrote in her autopsy report.

Kubota had registered with Parks Canada to hike in the Slims West Trail and Observation Mountain area in Kluane National Park on July 26.

He had been scheduled to check out on July 29, but never did.

That prompted Parks Canada, the RCMP and Yukon Search and Rescue to canvass the area.

On July 30, they found his body.

At the time, Macdonald said, an autopsy was necessary to determine whether Kubota drowned or died of exposure, given how cold the water was at that time.

“It is believed that Mr. Kubota had attempted to navigate crossing the cold, fast-moving creek waters,” Macdonald wrote.Creek was fast-moving, very cold, coroner says