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.
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?)
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...
It was hotter than that in Dallas this afternoon. Of course, I wouldn’t take a multi-mile hike without water and proper attire.
Dry heat is the most insidiously dangerous - especially to those not used to it and alert to everything their body is telling them. I ued to run 6 miles in 100+ temps while stationed at Altus AFB, OK, but made sure my route took me past a number of available drinking fountains/spigots and constantly monitored how I felt. We lost a couple guys who succumbed to heat exhaustion and were found in a ditch a mile from the base where they collapsed.
The couple went on a hike with a small kid? wtf
I went hiking there. One of the quietest places on the surface of the earth. Had 1 gal of water, compass, gps, cell phone. There are trail markers that point you back all over the place.