[at-l] Weather

[lparker at cacaphony.net (L. Clayton Parker)]

On Sun, 2003-07-27 at 08:22, J Bryan Kramer wrote:
> LOL! You just need to turn off the A/C and get used to it. BTW the
> heat index already includes the humidity. It takes me about a week or
> two in early summer to shift to summer mode. After that we hike in the
> mornings and late afternoons just like they do in desert country. On
> the other hand you are finding out why prime hiking season in Florida
> runs from October to June. While the northerners are shivering in
> their cabins we can hike all we want.

I live in Florida and don't usually voluntarily hike here in the
summertime. I work outdoors, so acclimatization isn't the problem. I
have hiked here on occasion at temperatures up to 95 degrees. I did a
seven mile speed hike one morning at Torreya when it was in the nineties
with close to one hundred percent humidity. Every stitch of clothing on
my body was soaked. My shoes were sloshing. Despite everything being
made of quick drying fabrics.

I used to live in North Dakota. I have _trained_ for triathalons at up
to 105 degrees there, but humidity was less than fifty percent. It was
uncomfortably warm, but NOTHING like Florida. 
>  
> As for the 'skeeters, we found them to be much worse in Toulomne
> Meadows this year, there were clouds of them all day long. Visible
> clouds. And in the past we have seen much worse in the North Country.
> The only time I really thought Florida 'skeeters were insufferable was
> when we visited my wife's family out beyond Everglades City, at night,
> the population was awe inspiring, truly horrific. But I lived in the
> Miami area as a kid and the 'skeeters there don't amount to much.

Florida mosquitos really aren't all that bad. The ones along the
northern border in places like Maine and the Boundary Waters of
Minnesota and up in to some areas of Canada are much worse.I have
noticed that DEET isn't as effective at repelling them as it used to be
though. I switched to a natural, non-DEET product and have watched them
hover over my arm but refuse to land.
>  
> There is no where, except Hawaii, that has year round, weather
> friendly hiking that I know of in the US.

You can hike anywhere, at just about anytime of the year, but you may
have to make concessions to climate and other factors. By choice, I
usually hike in the winter time because I don't care for crowds. Less
than half of my hiking is on the AT and similar trails. I normally opt
for Wilderness areas during peak season. I don't enjoy the cold, but I
do enjoy the privacy.

I could do the same here in Florida by hiking in the summertime. But I
like the heat even less. Little enough that I'm not willing to make that
concession. Some people are willing to put up with it though. Sounds
like a perfect case of HYOH to me...

Lee I Joe

Once I knew where I was going, but now I have forgotten. Sometimes my
mind wanders. Sometimes it goes alone, and other times it takes me
along...this isn't one of those times...
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