Your hiking companion won’t hike in the bitter cold, so you compromise by taking the winters off. When spring arrives, you are eager to hit the trails. You head away from home at every opportunity. Life is good.
But now summer has arrived and it’s blazing HOT!
Moisture will seep out from your skin and your clothing will feel damp and clingy against your skin. You’ll wish for clouds to capture the intense radiant heat blazing down from that luminous yellow disk in the afternoon sky.
The sweat on your forehead will drip past your eyebrows and burn your eyes. Dried sweat will leave patches of salty dust on your cheeks. Bugs will buzz around your ears. You will be easily irritated and parched for thirst.
The intensity of the sun and the hot air keeps you hovering underneath the shade, and suddenly it is too HOT for hiking?! Don’t let your hiking hobby restrict you from playing outside for a meager few months out of the year.
The summer heat also brings pleasure! A breeze feels welcoming and cooling. Splashing cold creek water on your face never felt more energizing. Taking a dip or swim never felt more refreshing. What else can you do to stay cool? Follow these summer hiking tips to help you feel more comfortable in the heat.
If you know how to make yourself more comfortable with the right clothing and proper hydration, you’ll feel much better in the heat.
In previous posts, we’ve mentioned our favorite hat, the Tilly LTM6 Airflo Hat, because it offers all these characteristics – mesh ventilation, a 360 brim, and a sun protection rating of UPF 50+. It also floats in the water, folds easily to stow in your backpack, and is lightweight (~ 4 oz). [If you purchase the LTM6 Tilly by clicking on the above link, it will pay us a small commission. This costs no more to you as the purchaser, but it encourages us to keep writing articles such as these].
No Excuses!
The person who claims they love the outdoors, but won’t go there because the weather is never right, doesn’t love (or like) the outdoors. Maybe that person is you or someone you know. You can’t expect to stay comfortable if you genuinely enjoy spending time outside. That doesn’t mean outdoor activity makes for a miserable hobby. In many cases, you can make yourself more comfortable by improving your gear & following these summer hiking tips.
Humans, thanks to our ability to sweat, have adapted exceptionally well for survival in a hot environment. Physiologically, cold adaptation is more difficult for humans. We are not subarctic animals by nature. Unlike polar bears, we do not grow dense fur coats or thick layers of fat insulation. Despite that, more humans die from heat each year. High temperatures with high humidity make it harder to stay cool since sweat can not evaporate. As a result, we do not get the cooling effect of rapid evaporation. While evaporative cooling is very effective in dry climates, there is a major drawback. That is the rapid loss of water and salts from the body through sweat. If not replaced, this can be fatal in extreme heat (less than 24 hours). Make sure you stay hydrated and replace electrolytes.
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