Too Hot To Hike

[Panzer1]

Its so hot that there isn't any children playing outside.

Panzer

[Tipi Walter]

I glad I'm not on the trail today. Its just too hot to hike.

I remember back in 2001 I was on the trail during a heat wave where is was 95 or above for 3 days. It made me feel like I was hiking for a week. It just washed me out. Even the young people i met found excuses to get off the trail.

And then they find excuses to get off in January when there's a foot of snow at 10F. I consider myself to be an avid winter backpacker but you have to take all four seasons in stride and not bug out when things get a little serious. Go slow, carry more water, wear a headnet, camp near water and swim often---and just keep getting your bag nights.

I just got back from a long trip in the Cohuttas and gotta say it's a buggy piney scrub jungle down there and in 11 days it only rained once and so the whole backcountry is oven-baked and dry but it's okay to carry a gallon of water for a dry overnighter and whatever you do, never complain.

[Cookerhiker]

Bumping up against 100 here also.

....Worst part is stopping for the night and it's still 80+ degrees with bugs biting. Joys of summer hiking!

You got that right! Been there, done that.

At least I only havea few more weeks to put up with this. Heading to the High Sierra July 4 for 2 weeks, then it's on to the Colorado Trail.

[Carl in FL]

And then they find excuses to get off in January when there's a foot of snow at 10F.

Ummm .... no need to go looking for excuses, that one sounds like a winner.

I was born and raised in Berks County, PA but moved to Florida in 1989.
Anything less than 60F is sweater weather. 10F is not even on the charts.

[Namaste]

And then they find excuses to get off in January when there's a foot of snow at 10F. I consider myself to be an avid winter backpacker but you have to take all four seasons in stride and not bug out when things get a little serious. Go slow, carry more water, wear a headnet, camp near water and swim often---and just keep getting your bag nights.

I just got back from a long trip in the Cohuttas and gotta say it's a buggy piney scrub jungle down there and in 11 days it only rained once and so the whole backcountry is oven-baked and dry but it's okay to carry a gallon of water for a dry overnighter and whatever you do, never complain.

I remember seeing your reports complete with great photos of your winter camping adventures and being SO envious. I would take that weather anytime over the heat and buggy conditions.

I was hoping to spend a week hiking thru PA in July going as far as I could. Maybe I should head up to Vermont instead. I love the icy cold caves on the LT on a hot day.

[Sierra Echo]

The heat doesn't bother me at all. I would hike tomorrow if I could.

[Tipi Walter]

I was hoping to spend a week hiking thru PA in July going as far as I could. Maybe I should head up to Vermont instead. I love the icy cold caves on the LT on a hot day.

You've got the right idea. My next trip, God willing and the creeks don't rise, is to head north to Virginia for some decent high elevation weeks in the Mt Rogers National Recreation Area. I've seen enough virginia pines down here to last a lifetime.

[harryfred]

I have hiked in 103 deg humid weather in Va. and will do it again tomorrow if i could. I've hiked in thunder storms and torrential rain, I have hiked in sub 0 and snow. I am hiking this weekend and I don't care what the weather is.

[Panzer1]

Go slow, carry more water, wear a headnet, camp near water and swim often---and just keep getting your bag nights.

you still need to make it to the next water source/resupply. That could be a long way down the trail. Some water sources may be dried up. You may not be able to go slow.

Panzer

[Tipi Walter]

you still need to make it to the next water source/resupply. That could be a long way down the trail. Some water sources may be dried up. You may not be able to go slow.

Panzer

This is why it's important to have the necessary water bags/containers so when you find water in the morning of an all day hike, you load up the hateful weight of a gallon or more and spend all day hiking to a dry campsite that night. The next day you should have at least a liter left for another long day of dry hiking until most certainly reaching some kind of water source towards the end of the next day.

New backpacking places require carrying more water, while old familiar places where you have a lot of experience are easier to deal water-wise since you pretty much know the condition of the springs and can carry only what you need to get to the next known source.

[hikerboy57]

I had my first day off in 2 weeks yesterday. In spite of the forecast, got up early with the intention of dayhiking in Minnewaska state park, went outside with my coffee, watched 2 birds burst into flames, and decided maybe it was a beach day after all.

[Raul Perez]

My hikes are usually few and far between so I hike in anything in any season.

[Lyle]

Heat's fine. Slow down, drink plenty of water. Take multi-hour lunch breaks in the shade and near water. Do your hiking between 5:30AM - 10AM and 5PM-9PM (or overnight if you've a mind to). Wet your shirt, put a wet bandanna around your neck. Problem solved.

[Tipi Walter]

Heat's fine. Slow down, drink plenty of water. Take multi-hour lunch breaks in the shade and near water. Do your hiking between 5:30AM - 10AM and 5PM-9PM (or overnight if you've a mind to). Wet your shirt, put a wet bandanna around your neck. Problem solved.

Totally agree with early morning humpage. In the winter, of course, it's a real bee-atch to get up at 5 or 6am and begin packing and moving, but in this hot weather there's nothing more simple or easy. Nighthiking a new place, on the other hand, can be a real challenge and is best left to Army Rangers or to those who have access to a boulevard trail like the AT. Most of the places I backpack would be nearly impossible at night unless you've spent years walking and learning the same trails during the day.

When I go to a new place like the Cohuttas or into Pisgah by Harpers Creek or up to Mt Rogers NRA, I would rarely even consider doing a nighthike until I become a "master" of their trails.

[Rain Man]

"If you give a monkey a gun and he shoots someone, you don't blame the monkey"

LOVE that signature line!

... watched 2 birds burst into flames, and decided maybe it was a beach day after all.

YIKES!!! I'd say so!!!

I have hiked in 103 deg humid weather in Va. and will do it again tomorrow if i could. I've hiked in thunder storms and torrential rain, I have hiked in sub 0 and snow. I am hiking this weekend and I don't care what the weather is.

AMEN! I can't understand an attitude of wanting to avoid icky nature and want backpacking to be glorious climate-controlled, moving-sidewalk comfort.

RainMan

.

[Panzer1]

its so hot that I can't see any birds outside or any squirrels or other animals.
No dogs either. Children are playing inside today. No one, not even the animals are outside.

Panzer
its 105 on my back deck in the sun.

[Mountain Shuttler]

It never gets hot on the AT, just ask Mountain Shuttler

That's right city boy! At least not as hot as most places! Highs the last few days ACTUALLY ON THE AT HERE IN GA have been in the 70's to low 80's. Maybe you should spend more time up here in the hills like me. If I had to deal with the smog,heat,traffic,crime,etc. of Atlanta I reckon I'd be bitter too!

[Rick500]

It gets too hot you people move to Florida, it snows too much you move to Florida.
Announcement: Florida is CLOSED.

I moved away from Florida after 29 years and I'm not going back, so I'm part of the solution, not part of the problem.

[Mountain Shuttler]

Just got off the phone with Pirate up at Neel Gap where it's a STIFLING 80 DEGREES! I ACTUALLY HIKED UP BIG CEDAR OUT OF WOODY GAP THIS MORNING. It was all of 72 DEGREES AROUND 10:30 AM. Don't know how I survived such OPPRESSIVE HEAT & BUGS,but I did!

[emerald]

http://www.weather.gov/data/obhistory/KRDG.html

If the environmental lapse rate holds, it would be 3.5°F less what was recorded at Carl Spaatz Field above PGC's Service Road on SGL 110. I'd expect it to be cooler beneath the forest canopy on Weiser State Forest.

I'm not surprised to learn it's cooler on Chattahoochee National Forest. Many do not understand how hot and humid it can be in Pennsylvania's Piedmont.