[at-l] Hiking in Florida (and other hot places)

[spiriteagle99 at hotmail.com (Jim and/or Ginny Owen)]

amy wrote:
>On Saturday, July 19, 2003, at 11:17  AM, Jim and/or Ginny Owen wrote:
>
>>Bryan -
>>We live near Washington, DC.  We get the same humidity - and sometimes 
>>higher - that you do.  And the 90+ temps.  We spent 3 days in PA over July 
>>4 weekend - it was hotter and more humid than in Florida.  And had more 
>>climbs.
>
>It gets more humid than 100%?

LOL!!!  Actually - I believe it can.  Talk to your local meteorologist.  Or 
maybe a physicist.
But on the July 4 weekend, it was both hotter and more humid in PA than in 
Florida.

Seems like this became the "hot" topic of the day.


>I too live near DC.  It gets icky here in the summer.  It does not compare 
>with
>South Florida.  Really.  The sun is far more intense there.  If you 
>blindfolded me
>and dropped me into Sarasota in the summer, I'd sure as heck know I was a
>lot closer to the equator than DC.

I've also spent time in Cocoa Beach, Houston, Haiti, Mexico, da Nam and 
other "southern exposure" places.  Ginny's spent time in Houston, Senegal, 
the Philipinnes and other "southern exposure" places.  We both know very 
well about heat, humidity and sun exposure.  And we both know that the magic 
word is - as Shane said - acclimatization.


>Yeah, but you have the option, at least, of heading to a little bit higher 
>elevation.

True - but if Kelly is gonna thruhike the AT then she's likely to hit the 
mid-Atlantic during high summer - and she won't have that option.  Unless 
she wants to do a winter hike?  Or maybe southbound?  Or maybe a flipflop 
that would get her into NY/NJ at some other time of year?

Only problem with those options is that in 1992 it was 100* the day we left 
Gorham NH - headed north.  A week later we were freezing.  Stuff happens.

Now - the flip side to this whole thing is that Kelly doesn't need to 
acclimatize "now".  She doesn't even need to accliimatize before she leaves 
for the trail.  What she does need to do between now and then is to figure 
out how to dump her preconceived ideas about what she's capable of doing and 
what kind of discomfort she's willing to endure.  The fact that she loses 
energy in the heat likely means nothing more than that her life is the 
typical air-conditioning-to-air-conditioning shuffle.  Meaning - she goes 
from her air conditioned house to her air conditioned car to her air 
conditioned office to an air conditioned restaurant for lunch to her air 
conditioned office to her air conditioned car to her air conditioned house. 
And the only time she spends outside is to rush to the next air conditioner. 
   And that's a whole lot of air conditioning.  Am I right, Kelly?

And NO - I'm not putting anyone down for that.   A lot of people in DC (and 
Florida and New Your and --- ) do exactly the same thing.  But it doesn't 
get you prepared for reality on the trail.

The Trail is a head trip.  Heat, humidity, sun - are all external factors 
that need to be dealt with.  Just like rain, sleet, hail and snow.  But none 
of them are factors that should stop you.

Unless you have Cheryl's problem.  I haven't run into that particular 
problem in a lot of years.  She's right - it's rare.  And dangerous to the 
owner.

Think about it - somewhere in south Florida there are people who dig 
ditches, build houses, plant gardens, operate  bulldozers, cut grass (such 
as it is in Florida) ---- whatever.  So how do they keep on doing those 
things all day - outside?   You think maybe they carry air conditioners with 
them?  LOL!!

C'mon, gang - my grandmother lived in Florida - my father was born in 
Manatee - and that was B.AC.  (Before Air Conditioning).  They survived - 
and so could you.  Well, all except Cheryl.

>>But YMMV - we all make our own choices, don't we?
>>
>
>I choose to work my butt off at a farm all summer.  *grin*


Cool - uh, well - maybe not cool.  Depending on how you interpret that.  
<VBG>

Walk softly - and be cool,
Jim

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