Mystery Solved

normally, 2.5 liters of water for a 6.5 mile hike is more than enough

I guess hiking in 109 F isn’t a good idea

not being critical of them, just thinking about how to avoid that problem in the future

If the highs for the day are forecast to be in the 80’s and the hike is in the sun, I start early and am headed downhill by noon. If the forecast is for the 90’s; I don’t hike. 100’s… if I am outside, I am at the beach swimming…

80s are my upper limit.  Humidity is a big factor too.

Very sad tale.

“The family had an 85-ounce (2.5-liter) water container with them that was empty.”

Note that in that kind of heat. Standard recommendation for desert hiking is minimum of 1 gallon per day per person…so that would be minimum of 8 liters for the two adults plus maybe two liters for the child, and maybe another 4 liters for the dog… TOTAL recommended: 14 liters… so per those calculations they were about 3 gallons low on water… [If you think that sounds like a lot…. old axiom of desert hikers: If you don’t drink it, you can wear it…. feels good on the head and neck]

 

 

Horrible story.  It reminds me a bit of the German family lost in Death Valley.

https://www.otherhand.org/home-page/search-and-rescue/the-hunt-for-the-death-valley-germans/

If they called 911 would it have gone through? The tone of the associated press article seems to be implying that. An inreach would have been life saving, I’m going to carry mine even if I think I don’t need it.

I think that sometimes 911 will get through when other calls won’t

Yeah, inreach is good

biggest lesson I think is don’t go out when it’s 109 F

Yea, 109 F is brutal…. BTW: that 109 F is IN THE SHADE, which they were NOT… what?… maybe 120 or 130 in the full sun with reflected heat off the surrounding soil??? Think about it… you body needs to keep itself at about 98 F… and you are walking up hills which generates more heat… So the only way for the body to cool is to sweat… evaporative cooling… like a swamp cooler… but… you dun run out of water… and sweat!!!!!!!!!!! Your body can’t cool itself and yet you are still in the sun… no shade… and needing to walk… very bad situation… needed more water… or rescue… all that and a 1 year old baby…. ugh ugh ugh… very sad…

That article on the German family was fascinating. I was particularly hit by the section where the author was describing his theory on the family’s decisions once the van was stuck. I’d like to think I wouldn’t have put myself in that situation in the first place — driving on back “roads” in Death Valley in Summer??? But if I was in their shoes, I’m not sure I would have made different decisions, particularly under stress.

Both these stories are good ones to keep in mind, particularly when kids are involved.

There seems to be a trend of hikers from cool, moist climates getting into trouble when they go hiking in hot, dry climates. Coming from a dry climate, when I hike the Olympic Coast, I am totally amazed at how little water I need to drink. So I can imagine that going the other direction (cool/moist to hot/dry) it probably just seems like total overkill when 1 gallon a day is recommended in the desert. But on a hot dry day, man can you suck the water down… and, man, can you start to feel BAD if you don’t drink enough…

is there water in the Merced River?

that would be a case not to worry about water treatment.  Maybe that would have saved them.

just trying to find lessons learned so I don’t do that

That loop looks like hikes I’ve had close calls on before, the heat with elevation gains is the issue. You can go for miles on level ground in the heat and eventually make it back, even without water, people wander for great distances in deserts like this. I had hiked many times in fairly level high desert type environments, I had enough water and it was just an exhausting day is all.

The deceptive problem I see here is you lose all your altitude right off the bat, then line up everything hot on the way back when you’re tired, need to eat which makes more heat, burns more water, the sun is at its peak etc.  it’s like a 1:10 ratio in difficulty in vs out. If you have water you still can’t hike though, you need ice cold water to cool down, not sun tea. You simply have no way to cool off, like a car going up hill in the heat and overheating despite having enough water. So your best bet is to find shade and hopefully a breeze and wait for nightfall. I’ve had to do this before, I had warm water and shade, but no way to go up hill since it would tip the temperature into dangerous levels.

They were close to making it back to their car. They were out of water and didn’t want to sit in the sun waiting for night, which was many, many hours away. It wasn’t yet noon and the area was in a huge hot spell. It would only become hotter as the day went on. Perhaps they should have gone back down to the river. There would have been shade opportunities there as well as water. And they could have cooled off in the river. But they must have committed to the car and then it got too late.

Note to self…

Unless they’d hiked it before, they might not have known how far they were to their car.  They probably kept thinking “not much farther, it must be around the next bend”.  Factor in the fear, panic and becoming overwhelmed in the heat, they probably just kept trying to push on.  Sad that they made the choice to be out there at all.  I don’t remember if they had a map or an app on a phone to be able to see where they really were.

I hiked McKinnley Ridge (in the Los Padres/So Cal, not alaska) on a 85-90* day with a friend. He over consumed water (5L in 10 miles, 4000ft gain) and ended up with low electrolytes to the point I took him to the hospital at the end of the day.

I drank 3L and was about properly hydrated, but also had cold water in my bladders. what a HUGE difference ice cold water makes in extreme heat. when dealing with upper 80’s+ lots of cold water is standard equipment for day hikes. By the end of the day we did 23 miles, 4000ft up, 4000 down, minimal shade, and I drank 3L up, 1L at the summit spring, and maybe 1.5L down, .5 or 1L once back at the car. so for a hot long day I was around 1.5gal. Its easy to do when climbing in extreme and dry heat.

Another hike I did climbs 4000ft in 4 miles out of a hot spring valley then 4 more miles mostly flat. The temp was only in the 70’s but its a brutal hike and exposed the whole way. I only carried 3L drinking water but also carried 3L dirty water and kept myself fairly wet for the first 3 miles of climbing. Having a wet shirt made life much more comfortable than only drinking adequate water and greatly aided in keeping me acceptably cool.

Last, I LOVE  the solar umbrellas for almost all hikes in SoCal. Even winter sun is hot. from March-november the solar umbrella is the best 7oz you can carry and a required piece of gear for me. Way better than 7oz of water. Having portable shade is a god send on exposed climbs, and in general the single best way to regulate body temp and sweat volume IMO. (although an ultra thin bright white synthetic shirt is a close second). For whatever reason I have never seen another hiker with an umbrella, although everyone compliments how comfortable I look as they bake away :) Solar umbrellas should be more popular.