View Full Version : beating the heat
fivefour
07-14-2006, 08:36
i am kayaking/camping on the northeast cape fear river this weekend and highs are estimated to be in the low 90's with lows in the mid 70's. any ideas on beating the heat ? swimming during the day of course but i am mainly concerned about trying to sleep before the temp acutally hits the lower temps. i am also slightly worried about the bugs. this is a very swampy area and i expect the insects will love to have our company at their overnight buffet. i have deet ready but are there any tricks to help ?
The Solemates
07-14-2006, 08:41
i am kayaking/camping on the northeast cape fear river this weekend and highs are estimated to be in the low 90's with lows in the mid 70's. any ideas on beating the heat ? swimming during the day of course but i am mainly concerned about trying to sleep before the temp acutally hits the lower temps. i am also slightly worried about the bugs. this is a very swampy area and i expect the insects will love to have our company at their overnight buffet. i have deet ready but are there any tricks to help ?
no tricks that i know of. deet up for the bugs. i have found that sleeping with a cotton sheet (rather than a sticky sleeping bag shell, which inevitably sticks to my sweaty legs) sometimes helps to keep you a little cooler.
Lone Wolf
07-14-2006, 09:01
Go to a Motel 6, check in and crank up the air conditioner.
fivefour
07-14-2006, 09:08
Go to a Motel 6, check in and crank up the air conditioner.
now that is good advice !
We kayak down from Lillington every now and then, great trip. Once in a awhile we get to see a gator swim by. The best hope for staying cool is to hope for afternoon showers. have fun
greg
D'Artagnan
07-14-2006, 09:33
Go to a Motel 6, check in and crank up the air conditioner.
Sage advice. I'll have to remember that.
try to wear light colors and keep a small smokey fire going for the buggs at night.actually one could actually bring some battery operating fans for the tent at night,ecpecially if their isnt much wind and its humid.ky
fivefour
07-14-2006, 10:49
i expect laundry mat style humidity only without the smell of the freshly washed clothes.
Deciduous trees are great dehumidifiers, so pitch your camp in a good copse of trees a little away from the water if you can. Speaking as someone who grew up in Florida in an un-airconditioned house (built in the 1930s with 10 ft ceilings and good cross ventilation), you can sleep quite comfortably on summer nights if you can keep the mosquitoes at bay and allow for convection cooling. There's always more breeze than our hermetically sealed postmodern lives remember. Leave the fly rolled up on your tent, ready to secure if a storm comes up in the night, but allowing for better airflow if it doesn't. Jungle hammocks are my sleep system of choice for swamps and lowlands. Then you get 360 degree convection.
fivefour
07-14-2006, 11:00
good idea ! and i will be in my hennessy so i hope use that 360 degree convection. mosquitos can bite thru a hennessy tho can't they ?
Frolicking Dinosaurs
07-14-2006, 13:26
Years ago, canoe and kayak campers often camped near the water with a muslin tarp lean-to style over their tents with one end in the water. This was said to cool the area beneath the tarp via evaporation. I have not tried this so cannot comment on the effectiveness of the technique or exactly how it was done.
fivefour
07-14-2006, 14:57
Years ago, canoe and kayak campers often camped near the water with a muslin tarp lean-to style over their tents with one end in the water. This was said to cool the area beneath the tarp via evaporation. I have not tried this so cannot comment on the effectiveness of the technique or exactly how it was done.
:-? hmmmm ... how about a wet towel suspended underneath a hammock ?
since cool air falls it might be better if the wet towel was above the hammock
.......... any ideas on beating the heat ? swimming during the day of course but i am mainly concerned about trying to sleep before the temp acutally hits the lower temps. i am also slightly worried about the bugs.........
Gotta do everything very early in the morning, may need a headlamp. Use tent with the most ventilation and go to sleep early(after spending a long time killing the bugs inside the tent). I did a 5 day canoe trip thru the Okefenokee Swamp in early June one year, Fatal mistake, temps and humidity unbearable, deer flies and mosquito's terrible, shower with bucket and rope. I learned, never even enter FL (or Southern Ga) after the first of April. Of course, we know any water travel is best done in cooler temps.
fiddlehead
07-14-2006, 20:07
Living in the tropics now, i'm amazed when i see construction workers all day out in the sun. They almost all wear long pants, long sleeve shirts, rags around their faces so just their eyes are exposed, and big straw hats. Also, the sea gypsy fisherman mostly dress the same way.
I also drip cold water down the back of my neck when i'm jogging, when i have it. It takes some getting used to. (usually about a month) At night, ventilation is important. Have fun.
fivefour
07-17-2006, 13:15
it wasn't that bad actually. the worst of it was sunday morning packing up with mosquitos trying to get in my mouth, nose and ears. it was warm saturday but a thunderstorm rolled thru right before dark and it stayed fairly cool after that. i did wake up sunday morning with one foot hanging out of my hammock but that ankle didn't fair any worse than the one in the hammock.
Currently(at 3 pm) 71 deg on top of Mt Mitchell, highest pt in eastern North
America, Now thats hot for here.
peter_pan
07-18-2006, 09:28
use a hammock...
Pan