Deaths due to extreme heat at national parks increasing, data from the National Parks Service shows
Deaths due to extreme heat at national parks increasing, data from the National Parks Service shows
The extreme heat that has been plaguing much of the U.S. is making that the annual summer trek to the country's national parks more dangerous.
The amount of people who just wander into California's parks without water or supplies of any kind whenever I go out shocks me
Sure it's the mountains, but it's still 98 fucking degrees out, what are you doing
What do we do about this?
Acknowledging the weather would be start, they don't even need to acknowledge climate change. Just realize that when it's over 98 degrees and you plan on a full day of hiking in the wilderness...
Bring a bunch of water and take plenty of breaks in the shade.
Be mindful and hydrate. I drink lots of water specially when at Yellowstone.
And Yellowstone doesn’t even get that hot! Well, unless you tried to jump into one of the thermal features. Then it’s extremely hot.
Or maybe just don't go to national parks when conditions are this dangerous. Literally none of them have anything worth dying to see.
Just make informed choices. Want to visit Death Valley! That’s great! It’s a beautiful park worth seeing. But don’t go in the middle of summer, go in fall or winter when the daytime peak temperatures will be much more comfortable.
If you MUST go in the summer, plan ahead. Bring several gallons of water with you per person, plenty of sunscreen, ideally a hat and sunglasses, and lightweight, breathable clothing that won’t trap your sweat and body heat. And on top of that, make sure your car is up to date with maintenance and can comfortably drive when the temperature outside is 110+. To have all bases covered, it would also be worth investing in a satellite phone- not all national parks have cellular coverage. In my experience, cell service is extremely spotty to non-existent inside of national parks.
To have all bases covered, it would also be worth investing in a satellite phone-
Dosn't even have to be that fancy. You can do with a SPOT locator or Garmin InReach. They usually give you at the bare minimum three buttons:
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Location update to pre-configured contact
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Pre-configured message (+location) to pre-configured contact (such as for non-life-threatening issues)
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S.O.S, Send in the Cavalry, I'm fucking dying - which will send your location to search and rescue.
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I think education is important. I think they should force everyone to watch a 10 minute movie about how people die in parks. Make is very graphic to drive the point home. Like those drivers education movies.