Heat in the Superstitions Claim Another Victum

[Azquester]

Heat in the Suprstition's Claim Another Victim

25-year-old Phoenix man dies on Peralta Trail near Gold Canyon


Always turn back when half your waters gone!

This poor man started to parish as soon as the water ran out.

Three others were killed by heat this weekend. I started in there once in the middle of summer at the first water creek trail head.

I got about half a mile and could feel the heat would take my life. I turned back and lived to hunt another day!

If you have any stories to share maybe we might be able to save one person with it please feel free to post. Sorry for the misspelled title.

 

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[Real de Tayopa Tropical Tramp]

Bill, ya forgot to mention heat cramps. they will keep you from your target, and possibly from successfuly growing old.. I first experienced them while looking for La Tarasaa, near Guaymas, son. ole Mexico. I was doing just fine when they hit me without warning, I had to crawl under a bush while I recuperated., took over an hour before my legs were usable, it felt like a glorified charlie horse, I just couldn' use them, the cramps were so violent. If I had Been on a trail such as the supers I wouldn't have made it, as it ewas I had a slight breeze of of the Sea of Cortez. In those canyons in the Supers where there in no breeze available, it would be a different matter.

And yes, they hurt like ell..

 

[azdave35]

Bill, ya forgot to mention heat cramps. they will keep you from your target, and possibly from successfuly growing old.. I first experienced them while looking for La Tarasaa, near Guaymas, son. ole Mexico. I was doing just fine when they hit me without warning, I had to crawl under a bush while I recuperated., took over an hour before my legs were usable, it felt like a glorified charlir horse, I just couldn' use them, the cramps were so violent. If I had Been on a trail such as the supers I wouldn't have made it, as it ewas I had a slight breeze of of the Sea of Cortez. In those canyons in the Supers where there in no breeze available, it would be a different matter.

And yes, they hurt like ell..

you know your in a heat wave when it hit 105 in prescott...broke a record up there today

 

[nobodie]

I have always gone out on the summer heat. I remember once being so hot and sick that I sat in a cold shower on plastick lawn chair.

 

[sdcfia]

Bill, ya forgot to mention heat cramps. they will keep you from your target, and possibly from successfuly growing old.. I first experienced them while looking for La Tarasaa, near Guaymas, son. ole Mexico. I was doing just fine when they hit me without warning, I had to crawl under a bush while I recuperated., took over an hour before my legs were usable, it felt like a glorified charlie horse, I just couldn' use them, the cramps were so violent. If I had Been on a trail such as the supers I wouldn't have made it, as it ewas I had a slight breeze of of the Sea of Cortez. In those canyons in the Supers where there in no breeze available, it would be a different matter.

And yes, they hurt like ell..

I've had the same nasty experience. The cramps are crippling and are caused by dehydration, which depletes your electrolytes. Good old fashioned salt tablets have always been in my pack - when it's really hot and dry, you need to take them early before you really need them. We had a search and rescue mission several years ago where a dehydrated guy very nearly died trying to get to the Gila River for water in hot weather. He cramped up so bad he had to crawl the last half mile. He lived, but suffered permanent kidney damage.

 

[Azquester]

I've had those heat cramps and it's not fun! Salt tablets were always available when I worked for the RR. You have to watch it though the tablets can and do make you sick. Back then there was no Gatorade. I remember being so cramped I had to be helped into my own house after hiking in the Catalina's with an 80 pound pack! I watched in horror on the way out as a family with children passed me by with only a few bottles of water on Romero Trail!

People don't realize that when you hike on rock in Arizona the temps soar to 140+. I've had my shoe soles melt and when you can't escape the barren rock the only thing you can do is keep moving. Same thing when working for the RR the RR track road bed and rails would soar the temps off the charts so we were required to wear long sleeve shirts, jeans, hard hats, gloves and steel toe boots. With the humidity back in Missouri so high if it climbed to 100 or more with 100% humidity it was the same as about 120 here. I've puked my guts out for taking to many salt tablets as it's hard not to when you're over heated. Cramps can keep you from getting help. Rule of thumb always turn around when your waters halfway gone. Even that might not save you heat is heat!

 

[EarnieP]

Don't have a heat story at the moment but do have a recent stupidity story, on my part, that I can pass on. Maybe it will keep someone else from doing the same dumb thing I did.

Last week I was up in the mountains for a few days to get away from this heat wave we've been having around here (so I guess it is kind of a heat related story). I had hiked down a steep slope to get to an interesting open cienega area, knowing I would have a little trouble getting back up to the top of the slope. About half way back up the slope I was panting like a dog (altitude, poor shape on my part, and a little heart thing) so decided to take a quick break and sit down on a large cut log that had been conveniently left behind by some logger. The log was large, about two feet in diameter or more, and about 12-15 feet long (yeah, why would anyone have left that nice log behind?). Anyway, the log was laying sideways across the slope. I passed one of the cut ends then sat back down on top the log with my feet on the uphill side. I caught my breath and was ready to continue on my way. As I was getting to my feet I started to push myself back up to a standing position. This action caused the log, which was much more unstable than I had realized, to start to roll down hill with me still half seated on it. This heavy log, I'm sure several hundreds pounds, was rolling me backwards and would have easily folded me up and crushed me as it went over the top of me. I was just able to fling myself off sideways, because luckily I was at the end of the log, as it continued crashing down the slope.
That was close!
Not sure I would have made such a dumb mistake when younger, probably wouldn't have needed to stop in the first place.
Yes, I know how stupid that was on my part, never even crossed my mind at the time. I was just wanting to sit down and catch my breath, little did I know it was almost my last.

I know you won't find logs that large in the Superstition, but you might just as easily sit on an unstable boulder on a slope.
Something to think about. Silly (stupid) things can kill you.
Take care.

 

[deducer]

It's not just the heat and dehydration but also what happens to you when you reach extreme stages with either, disorientation and loss of simple mental functions that we take for granted such as remembering landmarks or the ability to gauge distance.

I, unfortunately experienced this firsthand, and have to include myself as a victim of the "made a dumb mistake but lived to tell it" club. A hike from First Water to Charlebois and back turned into a nine hour ordeal in what turned out to be triple temperature heat. This despite the fact I brought plenty of water, electrolyte based fluids, and consider myself in excellent shape. Heat is heat, period.

Suffice to say that from that point on, I paid careful attention to the day's forecast.

At this point, my stance is if it goes over 90, I take the day off. I mean, who am I kidding? Who do I have to prove myself to?

 

[azdave35]

It's not just the heat and dehydration but also what happens to you when you reach extreme stages with either, disorientation and loss of simple mental functions that we take for granted such as remembering landmarks or the ability to gauge distance.

I, unfortunately experienced this firsthand, and have to include myself as a victim of the "made a dumb mistake but lived to tell it" club. A hike from First Water to Charlebois and back turned into a nine hour ordeal in what turned out to be triple temperature heat. This despite the fact I brought plenty of water, electrolyte based fluids, and consider myself in excellent shape. Heat is heat, period.

Suffice to say that from that point on, I paid careful attention to the day's forecast.

At this point, my stance is if it goes over 90, I take the day off. I mean, who am I kidding? Who do I have to prove myself to?

exactly....no need to torture yourself..whatever you are looking for in the hills will still be there in november

 

[audigger53]

Heat is why I carry the "free" salt packets from Burger King, Wendy's, MacDonalds. When I start feeling bad, nauseous, dizzy, ect. I open one and lick it. If it is salty, I spit it out and know that lack of salt is not the problem. If I can't taste the salt, then I lick again. If I think it is sugar, I keep licking until it tastes salty. Heat stroke is lack of salt, not water. Where I grew up in HS, Florence it would hit 125F and 0-1 % humidity in the summer and the only jobs for HS'ers was in the Cotton fields. Cutting the weeds and Johnson grass with a hoe or later picking cotton. Short row was 1/2 mile, long row a mile. Had to do a round trip to get to water. Hat, long sleeve shirt and long pants. Went to visit relatives in Minnesota when 18 and thought I would die. 100 degrees and 99% humidity.

 

[audigger53]

BTW for the heat cramps, you can ask at the drugstore for Thermotabs. Potasium Cloride, instead of sodium chloride. They help on both, but you have to ask for them. They have them behind the counter, not on the shelf.

 

[mrs.oroblanco]

One of the issues when you are hiking - any hiking - is that you don't always feel thirsty. Keep an keen eye on your pee - the color of it, and how often you pee. Heatstroke is caused by your body overheating. Once your body temperature is 104 degrees, whether you feel it or not, the body starts breaking down. Many a person had died of the affects of heat, and still have an entire supply of water with them. You can stop sweating, making it worse, or you can alternate between profuse sweating and not sweating at all. When hiking, we lose larger amounts of water (and salts) just by breathing hard. Sweating causes water and salt loss. Your body needs both to keep in balance. The side effects can be horrendous before you are rescued or die.

I have seen joggers in the Supes, carrying their little bottle of water with them, and I'm always afraid that I'm going to catch up with them somewhere on the trail ahead.

Mrs.O

 

[nobodie]

When I go into the mountains in the heat, I once in awhile taste my sweat. If I taste the salt I'm ok, if I taste no salt it's time to get out. Some people might not like this idea, but it's a good way to check salt level.

 

[Peyton Manning]

well, I usually think about turning back when my beer wench begins to get overly sweaty and slurs her words

 

[ConceptualizedNetherlandr]

well, I usually think about turning back when my beer wench begins to get overly sweaty and slurs her words

I gots 2 git me 1 of dem ( or a bunch )

 

[audigger53]

Heat exhaustion = Lack of water, hot dry skin. Heat Stroke = Lack of Salt, moist clammy skin. Heat Exhaustion Death, normally 2-3 days with out water. Heat Stroke Death, 2-4 hours lack of Salt. I always carried either salt packets or Thermo Tabs. IF you take too much Salt you will start having salt cake up on your hair. Drink more water than you think you can without throwing up to flush it out of your system. Learned that when I took 2 thermo tabs at once instead of my normal one for the day.

 

[audigger53]

PS I sweat "Lots", shirt will be totally soaked with sweat and don't ask about the hat.
That's why I spray the shirt when dry with Cutters. Even wet it works as it is in the cloth.