Too hot to hike!!

[Mrs Baggins]

I lead hikes and called one off last summer because of an extreme heat warning. We were going to do the Maryland Heights Trail. At 5 am it was already in the upper 80's and the air was heavy with humidity - a real sauna.

[Tipi Walter]

I lead hikes and called one off last summer because of an extreme heat warning. We were going to do the Maryland Heights Trail. At 5 am it was already in the upper 80's and the air was heavy with humidity - a real sauna.

"Sauna" is right and brings back recent memories. From the trip journal---

TENNESSEE SWEATLODGE
It's always good to fire up the sweatlodge and do a couple rounds with Grandfather soaking the hot rocks with holy water. Every 20 minutes I ask the door to be opened and let the steam escape and he lets me dump the pack to cool down. He sings the old songs of turtle island and I follow along. I cross hiway 68 and break a sweat coming up the hill on the other side, thankful I got 52 oz of water in Unicoi Gap. It's hot and muggy in the Southeast today but I'm not the only one breaking a sweat as hundreds of backpackers gear up on the AT or wherever else. My goal is Coker Creek where I'll do my damnest to find a suitable campsite and go swimming. Things need to get clean. The radio helps to get me thru these hot scrub hills and pine barrens. Welcome to the lowlands.

FURNACE MOUNTAIN PART 13
I'm getting ready to cross McFurnace road #23 at mile marker 186 and about 50 miles from where all this madness started 11 days ago. I've done hundreds of Indian sweatlodges in the last 30 years and humping a heavy pack up a mountain in 96F Southeast TN is exactly the same, except my hiking sweatlodges go on for 3 weeks at around 6 hours a day. You might as well pray or sing Lakota songs while you're hiking and count yourself lucky if you find a hawk feather on the trail as I just did---and burn some sage or tobacco if you can and accept a hundred rounds in Miss Nature's inipi. Pilamaya, unshimala ye, wicohan mni inipi.

[wisenber]

TIP ON HOW TO BACKPACK IN THE MUGGY SOUTHEAST



** Use herbal bug juice and slather it on in your ears and arms and hair and forehead and neck.
** Wear a headnet if needed.
** Go hatless in real hot conditions as your head vents tremendous heat.

I'd have to disagree on the hatless suggestion. The right hat can block more heat from the sun than it retards from leaving your head (think pith helmet). A light colored hat with good ventilation and a wide brim will keep the sun off of your head and neck and out of your eyes as well.

[dale1627]

Decided that it was too hot to do anything outside today at home in Kingsport, TN so the family and I drove up to Roan Mountain for some cooler hikes. Parked at Carver Gap and hiked over Round Bald and back. Then did the short trail to Roan High Bluff. Felt much better up on Roan than at home. Bonus was getting to see the Gray's lily out in bloom.

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[WIAPilot]

I do have to stress that in hot conditions, it is always advisable to wear any kind of hat. You do not see anyone but tourists out here without a baseball hat or hiking type hat or sun hat.

[scree]

I prefer hot days to cold days. I've been clearing storm damage this weekend or I would have done a one-nighter - these are the kinds of temperatures I prefer for day hikes at Old Rag. Something about the heat keeps me motivated. Once it gets into the triple digits I'll slow down a bit.

[Tipi Walter]

I'd have to disagree on the hatless suggestion. The right hat can block more heat from the sun than it retards from leaving your head (think pith helmet). A light colored hat with good ventilation and a wide brim will keep the sun off of your head and neck and out of your eyes as well.

I used a lightweight Mt Hardwear "backpacking" hat and put it to the test in the Hiwassee furnace. Going up a mountain humping 75 lbs with the hat vs w/o and gotta say I had that sucker off when the going got miserable. Any bit of fabric blocked my fire-plug head and it needed total bareness to radiate and vent. Plus, and this is key---I went from shade patch to shade patch.

[Short Bus]

Just got back from a Springer to Neels run this week. Temp in Dahlonega the day we got off was 108*. Was surprised that the heat did not seem to bother us that much (but we were sweating a ton!!!!). Since the entire stretch is under canopy I say go for it. Go slow and make sure you stay hydrated. BTW Water was getting to be an issue north of Jarrad Gap (we blue blazed down to the USFS park for a great afternoon in the lake, thanks Glenn and Sabrina for the hot dogs!!)

[Papa D]

I used a lightweight Mt Hardwear "backpacking" hat and put it to the test in the Hiwassee furnace. Going up a mountain humping 75 lbs with the hat vs w/o and gotta say I had that sucker off when the going got miserable. Any bit of fabric blocked my fire-plug head and it needed total bareness to radiate and vent. Plus, and this is key---I went from shade patch to shade patch.

I'm headed to Vermont and New Hampshire next week in hop of cooler temps -- I would guess that my favorite stomping ground - Joyce Kilmer / Citico Creek Wilderness, as usual makes it's own weather - - I'm sure it's on the warm side there Tipi, but I wouldn't doubt temps in the 60s at night and a few thunderstorms by day - - probably in the 80s though - - a good day to put your feet in Old Goat Falls.

[WIAPilot]

I used a lightweight Mt Hardwear "backpacking" hat and put it to the test in the Hiwassee furnace. Going up a mountain humping 75 lbs with the hat vs w/o and gotta say I had that sucker off when the going got miserable. Any bit of fabric blocked my fire-plug head and it needed total bareness to radiate and vent. Plus, and this is key---I went from shade patch to shade patch.

I think that the difference too is that the sun is so intense in the desert that you wear a hat for three reasons:

1. To prevent sunstroke
2. To protect against skin cancer
3. To prevent blistering on the scalp -primarily for men who are losing their hair

[Tipi Walter]

I'm headed to Vermont and New Hampshire next week in hop of cooler temps -- I would guess that my favorite stomping ground - Joyce Kilmer / Citico Creek Wilderness, as usual makes it's own weather - - I'm sure it's on the warm side there Tipi, but I wouldn't doubt temps in the 60s at night and a few thunderstorms by day - - probably in the 80s though - - a good day to put your feet in Old Goat Falls.

The BMT south of Sandy Gap to Ocoee River is a low elevation summer exercise in blowtorch heat and muggy humidity along with the usual copperheads and rattlesnakes and the pesky noseeums. But there are enough creeks and rivers to take the necessary sheep-dips for cooling purposes---the Hiwassee is downright cold.

My next trip will be in the Bald River area to explore two just-cleared trails, the Panther Branch and Henderson Top. Both tie into Bald River and so I hope to break a whole new set of sweats, especially climbing up Panther Branch which is a true nutbuster in the Upper Slickrock sense, at least the final part near Skull Gap. Apt name in this heat. BTW, while we had 106F here in Monroe County, it was 80F on Mt LeConte. My goal is to eventually tie in with Slickrock Creek where I hope to spend several days around Wildcat Falls and Lower Falls. Old Goat is also on the list as I want to stand under it and get a good cold hypothermic bath.

Of course, now we have to contend with the soon-to-be hostile and active yellow jackets--ground hornets. Nasty little buggers.

[vamelungeon]

As far as the hat thing- southern farmers have worn wide brimmed goofy looking straw hats for generations for good reason. They are porous enough to let the air move through them but still block the hot sun. They are not fashionable but are functional.

[rocketsocks]

It has always amazed me how the indigenous Southerners/Westerners can wear long sleeve button up shirts when it's 108 degrees,but this is normal,and for all the reasons mentioned above,I too am a baseball hat wearing wannabe cool off the Head,and when the sweat starts to flow,it's time for ripping off the hat and procuring the so not to easy to find commodity know as shade,if there was a way to slap a sticker on it and sell it,they'd do it.

In Colin Fletcher's books he is seen in illustrations under a tarp that is tied to three different points of contact a fence post,rock and hiking stick,and tells us that this is what he does for lunch breaks.I never could rap my head around taking that kind of time for a set-up that required such thought,now I have learned through trail and error that keeping one self shaded has cumulative beneficial effects directly proportional to the tired feeling at the end of the day.This knowledge came from those here,books and old timers on-the-job,so in a way the phrase "One generation plants the tree,another generation gets the shade",seems appropriate.

[shelb]

I do have to stress that in hot conditions, it is always advisable to wear any kind of hat. You do not see anyone but tourists out here without a baseball hat or hiking type hat or sun hat.

I agree that it is important to carry a hat, but when we did the SNP (110 miles) we were only in the sun a few miles. Thus, my hat stayed in my backpack. The temperature hit 100 degrees at the Visitor Center, and they said the heat index was 115 degrees. At one road crossing, a ranger pulled over and told us we needed to get off the trail (fat chance when our vehicle was 40 miles further up). He was kind enough to give us each a gatorade. The day before, our water filter broke, and, being prepared, we had Iodine tablets to see us through. My 13 y/o drank 5 liters of water and 3 gatorades (from stops/ranger) that day.

Did we have fun? Hell yeah! My boy still brags about it. Was it hot? Oh, yeah! Basically, my advice is to be prepared. Ask about water sources a head of time, camel up, and make sure to have a back-up purification method.

I'll be....Back on the Trail....PA mid August...should be hot!!!!

[Tipi Walter]

I agree that it is important to carry a hat, but when we did the SNP (110 miles) we were only in the sun a few miles. Thus, my hat stayed in my backpack. The temperature hit 100 degrees at the Visitor Center, and they said the heat index was 115 degrees. At one road crossing, a ranger pulled over and told us we needed to get off the trail (fat chance when our vehicle was 40 miles further up). He was kind enough to give us each a gatorade. The day before, our water filter broke, and, being prepared, we had Iodine tablets to see us through. My 13 y/o drank 5 liters of water and 3 gatorades (from stops/ranger) that day.

Did we have fun? Hell yeah! My boy still brags about it. Was it hot? Oh, yeah! Basically, my advice is to be prepared. Ask about water sources a head of time, camel up, and make sure to have a back-up purification method.

I'll be....Back on the Trail....PA mid August...should be hot!!!!

Thanks God there are no Rangers roaming the areas I backpack, otherwise I'd be told to get off the trail on a regular basis. The Shenandoahs are unique in this aspect, I think, since the Rangers can get road access to hikers easily. You won't see any on the Nutbuster Upper Slickrock or Hemlock Creek or Sugar Mt or Kirkland Creek or Warrior's Passage or Jenkins Meadow or all the other trails I hike. And I sure don't need a mother hen to henpeck me out of the woods.

[hikingshoes]

Just got back from a Springer to Neels run this week. Temp in Dahlonega the day we got off was 108*. Was surprised that the heat did not seem to bother us that much (but we were sweating a ton!!!!). Since the entire stretch is under canopy I say go for it. Go slow and make sure you stay hydrated. BTW Water was getting to be an issue north of Jarrad Gap (we blue blazed down to the USFS park for a great afternoon in the lake, thanks Glenn and Sabrina for the hot dogs!!)

Short Bus,
Thank's for the information, plans are still up in the air right now, watching the weather/temps. its showing thunderstorms coming,
Plus I haven't been home in a month my lady has been giving hints saying she'll be in on the 5thjuly so I don't know have to see what she want. After al she is my bestfriend and hiking partner as well. HYOH...HS

[wisenber]

Thanks God there are no Rangers roaming the areas I backpack, otherwise I'd be told to get off the trail on a regular basis. The Shenandoahs are unique in this aspect, I think, since the Rangers can get road access to hikers easily. You won't see any on the Nutbuster Upper Slickrock or Hemlock Creek or Sugar Mt or Kirkland Creek or Warrior's Passage or Jenkins Meadow or all the other trails I hike. And I sure don't need a mother hen to henpeck me out of the woods.

I would have gladly accepted a sports drink from a ranger last time I went down Nutbuster in July!...or up Stiffknee in June for that matter.
This time of year, it is best to not follow "the most interesting man in the world's" creed "stay thirst my friends".

[turtle fast]

In those temps with the humidity its water, water and more water. Always drink periodically even if you are not thirsty....because when you develop a thirst it beans your body already lacks the proper liquids. Another thing to remember is to drink a sports drink ie. Gatoraide, Gookinaide, Nuun or the like or oral rehydration salts as drinking water alone and sweating a lot will throw off your electrolyte balance and lead to cramping or worse. Above all take breaks and do not push it too hard as you risk heat exhaustion....just come common sense.

[rocketsocks]

I just heard on the boob that there have been 1,590 records broken across the country,Wow!....makes for a good conspiracy.

[Short Bus]

When I mentioned the water was getting to be an issue....... There is water at the normal spots but it is starting to run slower in some areas (no water nnorth of Slaughter creek but that is near the end anyway). There is still plenty of spots to refill. Best to use a filter to pull out of pools if you have one. Do not miss the Long River Falls. Great water break. Heat we did not notice that much. At night we were very comfortable and in the day it was it was fine. If you want specifics on what you are in store for just ask and I can get back to you.