"Yes, I do think hiking the Grand Canyon in June or July is a good idea." -- No one with any sense
A lot of times they don't bring anywhere near enough water either. They think they'll be fine with a 32 ounce bottle for the whole way.
32 ounce bottle for the whole way
I would shrivel up and die almost immediately. I go through 32 ounces of water like every 2 hours just sitting at my desk in the A/C.
Years ago, we went part-way down on mules, it was late May and there were hikers going down with a stick across their shoulders and a gallon jug on each side. I'm guessing they did just fine.
I think it's more dangerous for those of us from out of town/state, as the lack of humidity means you don't sweat (or at least the same) so by the time you know your thirty it's probably to late. I visited Arizona like 10 years back in like April and it was insanely hot already, and we kept an emergency case of water in the trunk of the car (on advice from a family member living there) and anytime we did any hiking we had camel packs and water bottles too as backup because we knew you had to just keep drinking.
It was funny though because Sedona was like the middle of a really hot summer in the north east, but they had ice in parts of the canyon still.
There was snow on the North[?] rim while it was really hot on the other rim. Such a surprise when we got to the other side of the canyon!
Yup. Me and some friends hiked it from rim to rim several years ago (staying at Phantom for a few nights as a break).
There was snow on the rims and we were wearing jackets when we started but we too were surprised to find it in the upper 70s at the bottom of the canyon.
The heat difference in the Canyon was wild - even of a night. This was September the year we went. I couldn’t imagine trying it in mid July.
as the lack of humidity means you don't sweat
Wtf? That's not his that works
I meant that with a high, or even "normal" humidity level you know when you are sweating. In that Arizona sun the air is so dry that you never feel sweaty, it instantly evaporates, but being so hot it also doesn't act to really cool the body as intended. So it feels like you're not sweating, potentially leading some to push harder not knowing how dehydrated they actually are until it's too late.
I think of it like the boiled frog, only instead of boiling in water you are slowly losing water you don't even feel leaving you.
I've hiked down to Phantom Ranch in July and it was an experience. The rocks are too hot to sit on. The ground is too hot to stand. The river is too cold to wade into for any length of time. It was 125 at the campsite. When the sun went down, the rocks just irradiated heat. I was never more glad to leave than waking up at 1am to hike out. We had to carry the pack of one of our comrades.
As grueling as the downhill trail part sounds, then you have to go all the way back up!
I wandered around a local park in Tennessee yesterday (as a chronically dehydrated and adapted person) and I drank 2 ltrs of water in a couple of hours and was still fucking dying.
I just got to Tennessee today. Fuckin 13 hour drive when it was all said and done.
Also it's hot as balls.
I've done this hike; to the very bottom campground, over night, and then hike back up the next day.
I was about 25, then (2011 ish) . I did nothing but field work (hike through the bush - no trails, dig when you get there) all summer, for 300 hrs a month. As a result, I was really used to walking for a very long time, under shitty conditions. Another co-worker came with me (he was into trail running/marathons). We went in May, started our hike down at 4 am (to beat the heat) and hiked back up about the same time the following day.
Let me tell you, this is on the list of top 5 hardest things I've ever done. Maybe even in the top 3.
the last quarter of the hike to the bottom is very challenging, because you get into some sandy/dune parts, and they just take whatever you have left out of you.
Hiking out, the bottom half (to Havasupai Gardens) isn't bad, but then it's swtichback city, population: you. I started off doing 5 switch backs at a time, but I wasn't even to 3-mile house by the time I was dropping down to 1, or maybe 1/2 a switch back at a time, and then needing a break.
I can't imagine being 40-50 and doing this in the heat we're experiencing now; it was hot as balls when we did it in May.
I did the rim to rim hike over 4 days, 3 nights. We hiked in from the North Rim.
I was not in nearly as good of shape as you were, but in probably the best shape of my life.
It was an amazing trip, but the hike out was no fucking joke. And you did it in half the time I did. Hard to imagine.
I distinctly remember seeing runners who would run by with no camping gear, meaning they were presumably doing the entire trail in one day. I don't understand how that's possible.
We saw them, too. Those people are insane. Flat out. Even if they were going to the gardens, it's nuts. Hell, 3 mile house is a rough go too.
We hiked down in 6 hrs and out the next day in 6.5 hrs. We crushed the bottom part, but my trail runner friend pretty much had to carry me for the upper part of the hike out. Not really, but he seemed hardly out of breath every time we stopped and I wanted to slap him.
what's a switchback?
Part of a hiking trail that zigzags up steep terrain
Also part of a road that zigzags up steep terrain.
And named after railroad switchbacks, which are multiple tracks that zigzag up steep terrain and require the train to switch back and forth as it climbs. Hence the name.
A switchback is to a hiking trail what a hairpin curve is to a mountain road.
Last week, the NPS said temperatures on exposed parts of the trail can reach over 120 degrees in the shade. The NPS does not advise hiking in the inner canyon during the heat of the day between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.
Fuuuuck. Is that normal temp for the region this time of year, or is it worse because of climate change? I know it's in the Southwest, so it's gonna be hot, but is 120 degrees in the shade normal?
Very normal in the canyon. On the rim it will be 90's easily in July. But down in the canyon it's way hotter. It's recommended to hike only during morning and evening during the summer.
I've never been, but I always imagined it was cooler down in the canyon. TIL.
It's hot as fuck down there because the canyon walls radiate the heat back out and there isn't much airflow. Which makes it nice to go in the fall. But it's hell in the summer.
I've been a few times. One of my friends was dumb enough to try hiking all the way down and up last August. Told them not to. They didn't get back out until something like 3am because they had to stop during peak daylight hours.
I went on a Grand Canyon rafting trip for 6 days this time last year. And yes it regularly gets up to those temps daily. It was an amazing trip, but you had to be on top of hydration as your life literally depended on it. I had a 32oz bottle and my husband had a half gallon bottle and we refilled them constantly throughout the day. Honestly most of the day was quite pleasant assuming you wore appropriate clothing and made sure to get wet in the river regularly. But in the evening, it was so hot from the rocks radiating heat that any breeze just felt like an oven. That was the worst part of the day by far, but that's also when we would make camp and have fun swimming while waiting for the sun to go down. 12/10 experience if you can keep up with drinking water.
Holy shit. That seems like Death Valley temps.
"Walk down a trail, add a little sauce, baby you got a ~~stew~~ BBQ going."
Yes, its pretty normal. People have been dying there for a long time.
I don't even wanna take my dogs out for a decent walk around the apartment complex in this heat; I can't imagine wanting to go on a hike in a desert.
It's already a crazy hard hike but if you're gonna do it in the summer, you gotta start the hike at night. Like start at midnight. Sleep, then hike back up same time. But then you gotta sleep in the day, which - I dunno how you would in that kind of heat. It's just fucked. I would only do it in the spring or fall. Even April's pushing it.
If people want to intentionally pour some chlorine into their gene pool, I’d say let them.
It’s a sad fact that the fastest-breeding segment of the human population is the lowest quartile on the intelligence bell curve, with the next-lowest quartile coming in at a close second.
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