Posted on 07/29/2021 10:21:39 PM PDT by Berlin_Freeper
DEATH VALLEY, CALIFORNIA – A Tukwila man who went hiking in Death Valley National Park during triple-digit heat was found dead by park rangers on Wednesday.
The Inyo County Sheriff’s Office says family members called The Inn at Death Valley after 68-year-old Douglas Branham missed his flight home and found that he hadn’t checked out.
Family say Branham planned to hike from Badwater to West Side Road, a 12-mile-round trip hike across salt flat. His car was found in the Badwater parking lot.
His cause of death is under investigation, but the sheriff’s office says Branham likely started his hike on Sunday or Monday when temperatures were 118 degrees and humidity was 91%.
Park rangers urge that anyone visiting Death Valley in the summer hike before 10 a.m. and drink plenty of water.
“Also, use a buddy-system.”
That way you won’t have to die alone.
118 degrees and humidity was 91%
Sorry but those conditions don’t exist. A relative humidity of 91 would mean a dew point of 115 degrees.
118 degrees and humidity was 91%.
I can believe the temp but the humidity? In Death Valley? No way!
Just did a calculation. At 118 temp F and 97% humidity the felt temp would be ...ready?....321 degrees F
According to my wall weather station, temperature here in AZ was 105 with 1% humidity. Usually we are around a "muggy" 10%.
——What is there to see on a salt flat?-——
People who stay home can miss out on a lot
Aside from the urge to make the hike, there is innate curiosity to be satisfied. To a mind that likes to absorb new information, the salt flats were of interest
I hadn’t even thought about that possibility. You’re right. I can imagine someone going through this decision process, in full awareness that their mind is swiftly eroding.
The Eskimos had their Ice Floe, so goes the legend.
That’s an unforgettable experience.
Thank God you lived to tell about it.
Yes. Distance is hard to judge in such areas. I got tricked in Tuscon, Arizona decades ago. I didn’t stay with it as long as you did though.
I just thought “Never mind”, and did a U Turn back to my friends house.
Admittedly I am not a hiker, but what is the point of hiking a salt flat.
= = =
Out on that flat, you have to look up to see sea level.
You see mountains rising on all sides.
It is scenic, just in a different way.
I’m thinking a missing decimal.
Factor in that Tukwila is just south of Seattle.
New guess.
The copied the high and lo temp for the day, and identified them as high and humidity.
You’re probably correct. It is a desert after all.
I think 91 is really hot for a desert at night.
On one rotation to Fort Irwin/NTC, I remember cresting a hill in my HMMWV and seeing the Goldstone Radio Antenna across (what I thought was) a small open valley. I looked at my map and it was just shy of 10km from where I was.
I think the aridity has a lot to do with it. Italian Renaissance painters mastered a technique of atmospheric perspective they called sfumato. Where most people live (i.e. not deserts) humidity, pollen and other particulates in the air create a haze that our eyes and brains subconsciously read as distance. It's why in most places hills become bluer or grayer as they recede into the distance.
In the desert, there's virtually no humidity. There's an absolute minimum of pollen or grains floating in the air. When the wind is calm there's very little dust. The air is unusually clear for people not used to it, and visually it contributes to distant objects looking significantly closer than they are.
I got my idea from post #35:
Weather Underground forecast for Wed 8/4:
Maximum temperature 118
Minimum temperature 91
Dew Point 39-44
Humidity 13-19%
There you go. A wonderful day for hiking alone in your 60’s…
A few weeks ago it was 110 or so in Tukwila. “Hey, if I’m going to be this hot anyways - nows a good time to see Death Valley!”
It can be hard on ‘em, but I noticed (acoustic) guitars sound a lot better in a dry environment. (I don’t know about electric guitars. Maybe.)
Like ... a completely different guitar. Sustain to the point it’s almost like reverb. Once the humidity settles in above 40 or 50 percent for a while, they start to sound “mushy” and dead, or some say like they’ve been stuffed with wet socks. All the hipsters own guitar humidors and monitor this and obsess that their guitars don’t dry out or get too humid. I’m not persuaded low or high humidity would damage them, more likely the rapid changes would. High heat sure will. At 118° I bet hide glue lets go completely?
Little humidity for sure - the desert is especially amazing though just right after a rain. The humidity is still gone with the wind, but it’s knocked all the haze, dust, and smoke out of the air.
Star gazing is pretty amazing too. I’ve seen some nice views up north, though never anything like out in the high western desert.
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