Denver man Ryan Pocius was left widowed on his hiking honeymoon as lightning struck his new wife, Kathleen.
On the final day of their romantic hiking honeymoon in the Mount Yale region of Colorado, the newlyweds, along with other hikers, were struck by several bolts of lightning.
Ryan was rescued a few hours later and was briefly hospitalised but, sadly Kathleen died on the mountain.
Writing a heartfelt tribute to his beloved bride, Ryan posted the following words on Facebook: “We worked for 40 minutes to try and bring her back to no avail. Yet, everyone should know that Katie was doing something she loved – hiking.
We were sharing a personal goal that we wanted to accomplish to set our marriage off right – peaking a 14er together, and we achieved that with pictures to prove it. She had said on the hike up that it was the most beautiful hike she had ever been on. She was so happy that day and she was surrounded in a bed of wildflowers as far as her eyes could see as she passed from this world to the next.”
The newlyweds pictured on their wedding day. Image: Ryan Pocius via Facebook