A needless tragedy

This is the second desert-related death in a month. A few weeks ago an older man had a heart attack in the heat and his grandson made a run for help.

blacbird said:

Two French hikers dead at White Sands National Monument, son survives (barely):

http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/10/us/new-mexico-french-deaths/index.html

The U.S. is a vast place, with lots of open, lonely, harsh environments that are yet freely accessible. Pay attention to every warning given to you when you visit any of these places. Don't be macho. It's really easy to overestimate your physical abilities and stamina.

caw

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Yep. This sort of thing happens many times each year.

Also, don't trust your google maps when you're out in the middle of nowhere. Sometimes a "great shortcut" turns out to be deadly.

And don't leave the trail.

The desert in summer, and the mountains in winter are unforgiving environments. I've lost friends who were very smart, very experienced, and yet just made one mistake, or suffered a moments inattention. Unless you're very, very lucky, you don't get a do over.

Alessandra Kelley said:

From what the boy said, the adults may not have been aware they had left the trail.

You can get very disoriented when dehydrated.

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That's certainly possible, especially in White Sands. Off-trail hiking in the national parks is a bad idea regardless.

Ugh. We always lose several hikers and mountain climbers every year here in Washington State, mainly in the Cascades. Sometimes it's even experienced hikers/climbers. And sadly, a lot of these deaths occur because they didn't stay on the trails or went into an area that was clearly marked off-limits (e.g., the recent Big Four Ice Caves collapse).

LittlePinto said:

And don't leave the trail.

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What trail?

LittlePinto said:

That's certainly possible, especially in White Sands. Off-trail hiking in the national parks is a bad idea regardless.

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Agreed. It causes erosion and risks creating new trails.

That's why when you do hike off-trail in parks like Denali where there aren't any trails, it's best to avoid hiking single file, so as to avoid leaving any trace.

Roxxsmom said:

Yep. This sort of thing happens many times each year.

Also, don't trust your google maps when you're out in the middle of nowhere. Sometimes a "great shortcut" turns out to be deadly.

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Also, honest to god, bring more than two 20oz bottles of water on a three-person, 4+ mile hike through the desert in the daytime. Tragedies and accidents happen to even the most experienced hikers, and it's very sad they died, but that's just dumb.

I know someone who once got stranded and almost ended up in real trouble after deciding to go camping in upper Canada, in May, with just a day's rations. After the blizzard bore down, he realized that was dumbassed.

What is the appeal of hiking in a shadeless desert, during the hottest part of the day, in the summertime?

I live in the Southwest. This region can be stunningly lovely. It can also kill people, experienced and idiots alike, often within sight of civilization. Folks from gentler climates simply do not understand the danger behind the beauty. I regularly work in 110+ F heat outside...but I have shade, 40oz of cold water at all times, sunscreen, a broad-brimmed hat, and cold collars over my throat to help cool my blood. Twice in 28 years I have felt the onset of heatstroke, and got help quickly.

You will not catch me recreationally hiking a desert trail in summer daylight, hiking inside an arroyo no matter how dry the dirt or how cloudless the sky, or going *anywhere* without water, electrolytes, and possibly a satellite phone.

A long time ago, a volunteer search & rescue trainer I knew in the northeastern part of Arizona shared his philosophy about wandering in wild places: 'It ain't New York City, kids, it's Mars out here.'

c.e.lawson said:

What is the appeal of hiking in a shadeless desert, during the hottest part of the day, in the summertime?

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The sheer size and scope of certain regions in the US (and Canada) are unfathomable to people who live abroad. When you come from a country smaller than the state you're visiting, trying to imagine that a section of said state is STILL larger than your country doesn't always compute. That disconnect can be deadly.

It's like hearing size statistics about Texas, where the drive from Dallas to Florida (10 hours) is around the same as the drive from Dallas to El Paso (9 hours). Or explaining that if you drive 2 hours across the US border into Canada, you're halfway to the north pole - from the equator.

Our chunks of land aren't divvied up as small as the ones in Europe. It's all a matter of perspective, and when you're talking about summer heat in the desert, that's not an easy one to explain in believable terms, either. I could tell you we've had an unusually cool summer in Texas, even though it's 104 Fahrenheit outside, but that doesn't mean it would register if your local average high is 26-27 degrees Celsius.

It was a specific hiking route though, that they'd planned to take, so they knew how long that was. I kind of get not realizing how brutal the heat is, sort of, even if you know the temp, but then turn the hell around. I know they tried but not for a good while, and I still don't get bringing nothing but two small bottles of water. Not even one per person?

As to the appeal, I have less than no idea. 'Walk through the hot desert in the summer, in the daytime,' sounds like a terrible punishment to me, not a recreational choice.

cornflake said:

I know someone who once got stranded and almost ended up in real trouble after deciding to go camping in upper Canada, in May, with just a day's rations. After the blizzard bore down, he realized that was dumbassed.

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I'm in Vancouver, the warm, mild part of Canada. A person gets lost in the mountains after dark, anytime except mid-summer, it doesn't have to be freezing for hypothermia to start. The mountains are right there, so green and tempting. So close to the city that some people can get enough cell coverage to call 911. Of course, then North Shore Search has to try to figure out what tree they're under, in what ravine.
And, they're not always campers. Lots of sad stories start with 'he was just going for a little walk after lunch, so he didn't take food or water, and was only wearing sneakers and a light jacket'. Of course, they don't leave the details of their route, because they're not going for a hike, or anything. Just a little walk in the woods. No big deal.

c.e.lawson said:

What is the appeal of hiking in a shadeless desert, during the hottest part of the day, in the summertime?

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Well, White Sands is a pretty beautiful place. I went to college in New Mexico, and a lot of my friends went there in the summertime, probably because that's when they had the most time off from school.