Too Hot To Hike

[Panzer1]

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.

At 5pm its 99 degrees here in the Phila suburbs.
It was already quite hot this morning at 9 am. in the 90's

I still say you can't slow down. you still have to make it to the next water source and you may actually have to speed up to make it, not slow down.

You can't take it easy either. You have the weight of extra water, maybe a gallon or more in your pack and you still have to hike up hill with all that weight.

nite time hiking has its own dangers.

All the things you suggest will help some but it will not solve the problem of excessive heat.

The heat will exhaust you. especially after 3 days of it.

The heat is not just uncomfortable, its dangerous. that's no BS either.

Panzer

[Namaste]

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

.

I love hiking no matter what the conditions but for me it's just hard to hike in weather so hot I can barely breathe....great for triggering an asthma attack...where's the fun in that! I've hiked in 113 degrees in the Grand Canyon and -20 degrees in the Nepal Himalayas and will take the cold anytime.

[Slo-go'en]

In '08 I left the DWG going north at the start of an 11 day heat wave. It was brutal.

The trick is to get up before dawn and do as many miles as possible before 11 AM, then slow down to a crowl for the rest of the day. I never seem to be in a good spot to take a long break in the afternoon, so I just keep going - very slowly.

[Panzer1]

one thing I noticed was if it got cool at night while I was sleeping it seemed that my body was able to recover from the heat over night. But if I was hot and sweaty all night long then the next day I would wake up still feeling worn down.

Panzer

[Sierra Echo]

You should get one of those ice pack banadanas that keep your neck cool. That might help some.

[Lyle]

At 5pm its 99 degrees here in the Phila suburbs.
It was already quite hot this morning at 9 am. in the 90's

I still say you can't slow down. you still have to make it to the next water source and you may actually have to speed up to make it, not slow down.

You can't take it easy either. You have the weight of extra water, maybe a gallon or more in your pack and you still have to hike up hill with all that weight.

nite time hiking has its own dangers.

All the things you suggest will help some but it will not solve the problem of excessive heat.

The heat will exhaust you. especially after 3 days of it.

The heat is not just uncomfortable, its dangerous. that's no BS either.

Panzer

WOW! Guess I'm still out west in the desert. I thought I made it home all those years ago by doing these things. Either I'm still out west, or I must still be in PA, sitting at Bake Oven Knob waiting for the springs to start running again and the 98 degree temps to moderate.

I could have sworn that those things worked for me and that I had made it through relatively unscathed. Guess I was wrong, sure glad I found that out.

I'll never hike in the summer again. It's impossible.

[Beachcomber]

A lot of things that work in the desert -- where low humidity allows evaporation to cool you -- don't work in the high humidity typical of Southeastern summers. Simple example: You see spray cooling systems all over the place in Phoenix, Palm Springs, etc. Not in Florida, Georgia, or NC. When your sweat doesn't evaporate, it doesn't cool you, and there is a very real danger to your system if you aren't careful.

[hikerboy57]

water, water water water. need water.when its hot AND humid, your body can no longer regulate heat, heat exhaustion and heat stroke become a distinct possibility when you realize that its 100 degrees and you've stopped sweating.get out early, nap during the middle of the day, finish at night, and water, water, water.

[Cookerhiker]

Yes, you have drink lots of water but watch out for over-hydration which I experienced while hiking in hot humid weather in NY. Make sure you get some electrolytes. I always bring salted dry-roasted peanuts and banana chips (the latter for potassium), especially in hot weather.

[Lyle]

A lot of things that work in the desert -- where low humidity allows evaporation to cool you -- don't work in the high humidity typical of Southeastern summers. Simple example: You see spray cooling systems all over the place in Phoenix, Palm Springs, etc. Not in Florida, Georgia, or NC. When your sweat doesn't evaporate, it doesn't cool you, and there is a very real danger to your system if you aren't careful.

Hence the additional comment about PA.

I'm from the Midwest. I hike a lot in the East - all year. Grew up on a dairy farm, worked all summer, all temps. Try stacking hay in a mow on a 90 degree day if you want HOT and HUMID. Some on here are acting like life comes to a halt when it gets hot out. Maybe some city folks have that option, but a whole lot of us just keep doing what we do, taking appropriate precautions and making appropriate modifications to our routines. We don't have the option of hiding in an air conditioned box all day.

Before air conditioning, people traveled to the Mountains to escape the summer heat, because it was a pleasant place to spend your time. I agree.

[ChinMusic]

The heat is one thing that gives me a lot of trouble. I don't know how I would respond on a thru. I would hope that I would get in early miles and take it easy during the heat of the day. Give me cold ANY day, hence my plan for an early start, although a hot June would catch me anyway.

I HATE not being able to sleep from being hot. To me that is worse than being hot during the day.

[Tipi Walter]

The heat is one thing that gives me a lot of trouble. I don't know how I would respond on a thru. I would hope that I would get in early miles and take it easy during the heat of the day. Give me cold ANY day, hence my plan for an early start, although a hot June would catch me anyway.

I HATE not being able to sleep from being hot. To me that is worse than being hot during the day.

I was bedroll camping last night in the backyard trying to get a few more bag nights and you're totally right, I hate not being able to sleep with the heat. The main problem was the noseeums biting me all over and if I covered myself with anything I roasted. A bivy bag would've killed me. Here's where a tent comes in very handy although it does nothing to relieve the heat.

[moytoy]

I sleep a lot outside in hot weather.
1. Use a tent with lots of bugnet square footage.
2. Pitch it in an open space where you can see the sky above you.
3. Pitch it where you catch the most breeze.
4. strip and lay down on your side or back on a natural fiber sheet.
5. Most important is think cool. Imagine being in a cool breeze.
6. Relax, relax....zzzzz

[Cookerhiker]

The heat is one thing that gives me a lot of trouble. I don't know how I would respond on a thru. I would hope that I would get in early miles and take it easy during the heat of the day. Give me cold ANY day, hence my plan for an early start, although a hot June would catch me anyway.

I HATE not being able to sleep from being hot. To me that is worse than being hot during the day.

My sentiments exactly. The biggest "con" for me doing a NOBO thruhike would be arriving at low elevations of the Mid-Atlantic during summer heat & humidity. You can pace yourself during the day, stay in shade, drink a lot, etc. but sweating all night long in your tent (where you have to stay because of mosquitos) ain't fun.

I sleep a lot outside in hot weather.
1. Use a tent with lots of bugnet square footage.
2. Pitch it in an open space where you can see the sky above you.
3. Pitch it where you catch the most breeze.
4. strip and lay down on your side or back on a natural fiber sheet.
5. Most important is think cool. Imagine being in a cool breeze.
6. Relax, relax....zzzzz

Good tips - thanks.

[Pedaling Fool]

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.

I was there that time of year in 2006; I understand how hot it can get. I also ride a bike on shadeless sun-beaten roads, I know heat. It sucks, but not as bad as all the media reports you hear when reporting on a given "heat wave". It's like anything else, you get use to it.

I can't help to think that if nearly universal AC has made us (as a whole) wimps for the heat; add to this all the media hype about the heat. And there is something to be said for urban-heat island effect (UHI). I'm curious how much of an effect it is away from the urban environment. I know when I sit under my shade tree if feels nice, but if the wind blows just right I can feel the heat from the pavement.

[Phreak]

Its never too hot to hike. Just have to adjust your mileage, pace, water intake, etc.

[Panzer1]

In really hot weather like we've had for the last few days, I will start my hiking very early in the morning to beat the heat. However, when the heat of the day does arrives, I don't stop hiking. (except for my usual short rest breaks) That's because there is usually no good place to stop, its still hot when you stop, your still consuming water, and the mosquitoes and other bugs will zero in on you. I would rather just keep hiking until I get to camp and water.

Panzer

[Egads]

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!

Oh I get it... like sarcasm... but different.

[ChinMusic]

Man, is it hot in Illinois today. I couldn't imagine hiking/sleeping in this weather. I got up early to seal my deck this morning. By 1pm I was starting to feel sick. Glad I had an cool house to jump into.

[johnnybgood]

Man, is it hot in Illinois today. I couldn't imagine hiking/sleeping in this weather..

Go take a hike in the mountains. Umm , well ... You do have mini mountains there in Illinois don't you ??