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DV Hiker Fatality
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2020-09-17, 06:04 PM
DAW
~When You Live in Nevada, "just down the road" is anywhere in the line of sight within the curvature of the earth. 
2020-09-17, 08:17 PM
I don't understand how anyone can even think hiking in that extreme heat is a good idea (nevermind safe). The heat is all consuming, and you literally cannot cool down because you can't sweat fast enough to release the heat from your body.
2020-09-18, 12:29 AM
Sadly, there was a German tourist that lost his life on this same trail a number of years ago. So close to civilization / their car, yet so far.
David Bricker / SYR - ITO
DV Rat. Live upstate NY, play Death Valley, retiring to Hawaii. '95 Cherokee, barely.
2020-09-18, 01:53 PM
When out and about in the heat I've found relief by wearing a long sleeve cotton white shirt which I regularly soak with water to enjoy the benefits of evaporation when just sweating is not enough. Often I also employ an umbrella in addition to a good hat to keep the desiccating sun rays at bay.
Whenever some poor soul meets the end in Death Valley I think of Jean Lemoigne (1857-1919) whose grave marker near Salt Creek I've visited and paid my respects to twice.
2020-09-18, 02:11 PM
(2020-09-18, 01:53 PM)DeathValleyDazed Wrote: When out and about in the heat I've found relief by wearing a long sleeve cotton white shirt which I regularly soak with water to enjoy the benefits of evaporation when just sweating is not enough. Often I also employ an umbrella in addition to a good hat to keep the desiccating sun rays at bay. That umbrella idea is a great one. I resorted to doing that earlier this year, when backpacking through a rural, remote part of Colombia in extreme heat & humidity, with no shade. It definitely helped avoid a bad end result.
2020-09-18, 02:14 PM
It's pretty amazing the difference two layers of sun protection makes. Hat / umbrella, tent fabric / rainfly. Our house in Hawaii is a metal roof, but then has an air gap and standard plywood sheathing beneath that. The attic is still tolerable to work in.
David Bricker / SYR - ITO
DV Rat. Live upstate NY, play Death Valley, retiring to Hawaii. '95 Cherokee, barely.
2020-09-18, 02:48 PM
Yes, the umbrella idea works great! I used one frequently when hiking in the San Rafael Swell and Grand Staircase Escalante (and got teased a lot by other hikers, but what does that matter).
Link to my DV trip reports, and map of named places in DV (official and unofficial): http://kaurijacobphotography.yolasite.com
2020-09-18, 04:51 PM
Yikes! Can't imagine going hiking in the valley right now. It was warm enough up on the crest of the Panamints a couple of weeks ago.
2020-09-21, 08:01 PM
People just don't realize how much water they need. They are rarely in a situation where they measure their intake (or outflow). You run out of water, you are immediately in a survival situation out there in such heat. Poor planning but sad nonetheless.
2020-09-22, 03:44 PM
People who live in cooler, more humid climates have no idea has fast the desert can kill you. It's hours not days and there are a number of examples.
A couple arrived at SPW in the summer and decided to walk to the sand dunes. Half way there, the wife turned back. When the husband never returned, she went to the ranger station. A fixed wing aircraft was dispatched to look for him. He was spotted wandering about. He died at a hospital in Las Vegas. An elderly couple got stuck on one of the dirt roads off Badwater Road in the summer. The husband started walking. He never came back. The wife actually got cell service and called for help. The husband's body was found a half mile away. |
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