A Complete Guide for Exercising in the Heat

[Perry]

I just put up a very thorough guide for exercising in the heat. I know it's late in the summer for this, but that's what I said at the end of last summer and it never went online. So here it is:
http://mtsanjacinto.info/heat/heat_exercise_tips.html
or
heat/heat_exercise_tips.html

The first tip: don't do it.

[jdclifford]

Great stuff!

In May of 2019, I went on a big two week road trip where I backpacked in Arkansas, Michigan, West Virginia, and Kentucky. The very next weekend I was back (early June), I had an ambitious three day, two night trip scheduled in the Gila National Forest here in NM. It was as if I had forgotten the significance of such a dry environment during my road trip. I wound up filtering from a stagnant, fly-riddled pool of water I had come across. My filtering system is see-through and a few horsefly larvae were swimming around the water I was filtering. The trip turned into just an overnight, and in the last two miles to the car I endured drinking half a liter of this water that I had only filtered in case of an emergency. Derivation of the water aside, it tasted disgusting.

It is so true, a dry environment, especially in the heat, is simply a different beast.

[RichardK]

A big factor in hot weather hiking is the humidity. In a low humidity environment like the desert southwest, dehydration kills you. The body loses water through the skin and breathing at a prodigious rate. In a humid area like south Florida where we live, high humidity prevents the body from cooling itself by evaporating sweat. During the summers here I am good for about 2 to 2 1/2 hours of hiking before becoming spent. This is on flat ground.

We once hiked Little Bridge Canyon in Death Valley when the forecast was low 90's. Each of us carried a gallon of fluids, half water and half Cytomax. We drank all of it and additional water from a cooler stashed in the car when we got back. That night we learned that the day's high was 108. Had we not taken that much water, we would have likely died on that hike.

[Ellen]

Thanks Grandmaster Perry Excellent information

[Perry]

Thanks for the feedback. I know it's a bit controversial but also think there needs to be better info out there on this subject.