Posted on 08/07/2015 3:07:04 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Authorities say a man and woman from France have been found dead after hiking in New Mexico's White Sands National Monument.
Park rangers say a young boy was found alive and treated for heat exposure Tuesday, when the daytime temperature at the monument was 101 degrees.
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Park rangers were on patrol about 1 ½ miles from the Alkali Flat trailhead when they found woman's body about 5:30 p.m. Tuesday.
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sad...
sad...
Who hikes White Sands in August?! I mean sure you can go, it can still be fun and it’s very pretty, but don’t get more than 1 dune away from you car.
Awesome place to see but people don’t understand how dangerous the desert can be. Especially if they aren’t familiar with it. And not only because of heat and rattlesnakes.
101 is about what it is here, but we have an AC
Sad. But, quick and smart decision by the deputy to find the boy.
We live in the So. Cal. Desert. Every year someone dies here hiking. We had a victim a couple of months ago midday on a trail I hike. But I don’t hike it in the summer!!! And if I were to hike in the summer, it would not be midday!!
I can’t say how many times I’ve been hiking and seen people without water. Even though I do not go out in the summer, it’s plenty warm sometimes when I go. It’s frightening how unaware people of what dry, warm air can do to you when you are exerting yourself.
I’ve worked at WSMR in summer. It sure ain’t St. Tropez.
But folks don’t understand how cold it gets in the high desert at night.
The one that usually get folks here near Albuquerque is the La Luz Trail going from the foothills up to Sandia Crest at 10,678 feet. They start off in shorts and a t-shirt and, misjudging the time get stranded in the dark, and even in summer it drops into the 40’s. The number of folks they’ve hauled down suffering from exposure is impressive.
We did the short White Sands loop hike, but during the month of April, and I carried an umbrella to guard against the heat reflecting off the sand — it was unpleasant even in that month without protection. Walking it in the Summer is insane. RIP.
We do the White Rim Trail at Canyonlands every so often in the fall. One year I asked a Ranger if there are people who do it in the summer. He said that it’s usually Europeans. They just don’t really get how hot and dry it is during that season. You need a couple of gallons a day just to sit in the shade, much less hike.
I see tourists hiking frequently in south and central Utah in summer in just shorts and no water, except maybe a pint bottle. I’m surprised that more don’t die each year.
So, they “surrendered” to the heat? (too soon?)
Who hikes White Sands in August?
That was going to be my very question.
Holy moly, that sand reflecting that hot NM sun back at you/
It’s real pretty from the inside of an air-conditioned car.
I used to live in New Mexico, and did a lot of hiking back then: mountains, deserts and all in between. In my experience, people from Europe have no idea of the weather extremes we have here in the U.S. No idea at all. And no clue on how to prep and deal with it, even on a simple day hike.
Sad, really sad...
At higher elevations that happens here too.
They take the tram in Palm Springs and have no idea how cold it will get. There was a show “I Survived” or some name like that. They did one about a couple who did just that. Went up on the tram ill prepared, got lost and nearly died.
They found the body of an experienced German hiker who had died a few years before. In his pack were matches in a plastic bag. The one and only thing they did right was set fire to brush. The fire watch saw it and sent a helicopter; otherwise, they would not have made it. They had gone in to a box canyon and could not have climbed out.
I don’t understand what happened to these people, did they just die of heat stroke or something? Were they out there for days? (That seems unlikely). How old is the child?
I state for the record that my greatest TV-inspired fear is dying in the desert. I went to Vegas once and I’d go there again, but I would never live there. I’d be too afraid I’d get car-jacked or something and end up dying in the desert.
But, that assumes some stuff, like getting lost (which believe me I can do going around a city block, well, a suburban “block” anyway), is that what happened here?
LOL. No, not too soon.
It was hotter than that in Dallas this afternoon. Of course, I wouldn’t take a multi-mile hike without water and proper attire.
I have been reading about deaths in France from the heat waves. Remember them? It was around 89 degrees!!! Is it possible Europeans are not used to gauging best ... or used to t?
They were, by all accounts on the trail, less than 2 miles from the parking lot. It was 101 degrees, and the humidity here can be single digits, so you can sweat profusely and it dries so fast you get minimal cooling (especially in still air). Plus the heat is reflected off the sand. If you’re not used to it, and start hydrating well in advance, it can hit you quick.
The WSMR is 3000 square miles, about a third the size of NJ. New Mexico is 210,000 square miles with less than 2 million people. We have a lot of nothing.
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