check out this story at bwca.com
http://www.bwca.com/index.cfm?fuseaction...12&confID=1
a group without any drinking water,they could have had lake water,has a member go down with heat stroke.they hit the SPOT but it's another group of canoe trippers that they meet up with that race out in empty canoes--and more--to get help.
just a couple quick edits..ep is entry points,we talk in terms of ep's to say where we launch the canoes.the sheriff they met would have been on dirt road that twist's and turns around lakes and bogs and not a highway and Ely is a "end of the road town"

Hard to believe there was not one bottle of drinking water in the entire group. What were they thinking?

Either way, hope the guy survives.

A RANT

A personal pet peeve of mine is in one of the comments under the hyperlink. A guy stating he got heat stroke and recovered sitting under a tree. He didn't have heat stroke, most likely he was dehydrated and most likely heat exhaustion.

I have been diagnosed by doctors with heat stroke 3 times. The first put me in the hospital with a coma and a 106* core temp. The 2nd and 3rd I was in the hospital with IV's for a least a couple days. The 3rd time I also had kidney and liver failure, my heart and lungs seized and I tore a rib trying to breath through the muscle cramps.

Heat stroke kills. So when someone overstates dehydration as heat stroke it frustrates me. I've been way to lucky but I'm also prepared as best I can to hedge my bets, even when I do get dehydrated.

I really hope the guy with the condition made it. He'll never be out without water again, thats for sure.

Curious as to why the sheriff did not know the location of the SPOT transmission? The article said ". He said that he was responding to a 911 from SPOT but had no clue the situation or location of the victim. "

I thought SPOT transmitted a location with its alert. Guess that is another reason I carry a FastFind and not a spot.

Nomad.

More often than not, media reports will be wrong about some of the details we need to assess what really happened.

Wanna hear my best gut feeling guestimate based on insufficient and inaccurate media reports? [rant] The sheriff did not put much confidence into the location coordinates from SPOT and was in his mind making a "unknown situation in an unknown location" mission plan to deal with it. [/rant]

Water, water everywhere nor any drop to drink.

Who needs a water bottle or some basic vestiges of common sense when you can just push a button and get rescued with a SPOT or PLB.

What is strange is this groups attitude to the surrounding lake and river water. Maybe the term Hyperthermia should be replaced with the words 'crockpot brain'.

Even with the first signs of 'crockpot brain' such as nausea, headache and dizziness, all that was required is to stop and dunk your bare feet in the lake, whilst drinking some Tea whilst sitting under an umbrella.

Did this group even decide to take the 'crockpot brain' victim and dunk him in the lake to rapidly cool him down or did they just stand around wondering if the SPOT 911 button worked saying to each other 'man you don't even have a water bottle...Hey you don't have one either...How are we going to get the lake water over here to cool him down?...HELP..HELP..'

Sounds like they didn't know what they were doing. In the first place they should have had water. Period. Anyone with any experience at all knows that. Second, they should have treated the guy for heat exhaustion/dehydration, but I don't think any of them knew what they were looking at, so they pushed the panic button. I've seen (and had) heat exhaustion before. I have half an idea of what the symptoms look like and what to do. It would appear that they did not. Even the rescuer, "airmorse", incorrectly wrote that immersion in the lake would harm the individual. If the victim were overheating, it would not be harmful. Indeed, it could be a life saver.

HJ

Does anyone use an active solar power cooling solution i.e. such as a 12W Sunlinq flexible solar panel and a 12V fan such as a lightweight 120mm 10W 150CFM computer fan?

i.e. a variation such as shown here;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RULZgfeYJ4E

just a couple comments..this is not a media report but a first person account. also folks who don't know about this area have the idea that the water,like the water in their home lakes is not fit to drink.wrong,really wrong,except for some nasty moose bog maybe.
a message here would be to look into some information about the area you will be going into before you go.a quick search of bwca.com or the many other sites about canoe country would have told them that the water is fit to drink,the portages are long and hard and lots of other not only life saving but comfort info.i have never done any hiking out West but i would sure find out out about what to expect before i hit the trail.note that this was a simple problem and not a bear attack,lighting strike,lost or washed overboard.and just as a last thought,some of the tourist brochures make this sound like a place for Boy Scouts and happy fisherman holding up stringers of fish,which it can be,but that land of sky blue waters can turn nasty fast like any of our wilderness parks.i hope it all works out for those canoe trippers.

i was just over at bwca to check for follow up info.the guy was overnite at the local hospital and was still weak but ok when he left.the RN on the rescue plane put ice packs under his armpits and groin to cool him down.another bit of luck was not only the fellows from bwca.com who were there to help but that this lake,Fourtown,is large enough to land a float plane.in a smaller lake or halfway across a portage they may of had to call in a chopper and all the time and hassle that would involved.

Interesting. Might be really nice for car camping. Wouldn't dream of it if I had to carry it.

HJ

The Sunlinq weighs 360 grams and a 120 mm computer case fan Delta AFB1212SHE weighs 256 grams

Total weight including cables would be around 650 grams or about 1lb 7oz. Not to much to keep cool especially when you consider the amount of clothing and sleeping bag etc that is used to keep warm.

BTW has anyone tried out a Simply cool active neck scarf or Cobber body cooling neck wrap

Combined with a little water (if water is scarce) and active airflow 150CFM the combination of the neck scarf could be a reasonably lightweight (i.e. less than 2lbs weight) and efficient means of cooling down the onset of a 'crockpot brain'

Water, water everywhere nor any drop to drink.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMtVfpGhzaw

Sorry there was no sarcasm smilie.

I think I'd rather have the pound and a half off my back in hot weather, but each to his own.

My summer sleeping bag weighs 1lb 3oz just for comparative purposes.

It is an interesting idea. A bit of refinement might really wind up being interesting.

HJ

It seems that they should have instigated STOP before they needed to trigger SPOT.

No, a member of your group is feeling/acting funny, just keep going in the heat.

Keep going until he drops.

Refuse offers of assistance.

Cry for help.

Dumb.

Sue, who tries to travel only with people with sense

All this talk about heat stroke and hydration is leaving me a bit confused.
There was a whole lake to swim in if you needed to cool off.
Even if you just dunked your arms and head the cooling effect would be quite strong.
No drinking water is a bit nuts though. Unless they intended to drink lake they should have had water, and even if they were not thinking about drinking lake water they should have a water treatment plan.

Cuppa tea?


I think Sue has a very good point.
It makes me wonder if they were even aware of the signs of heat distress.

I have a couple of those neck coolers. Not great but do in a pinch. They are 1 trick ponys so best for urban settings, like spectating at sports events. I wouldn't turn one down if it was offered.

The media didn't get it right with regard to the SPOT.

You power it on and select 911 and your local SAR coordinator will receive position info.

It pretty straight forward.

Clarification: Only if it gets a GPS position. First gen SPOTs have less capable GPS. Second gen do much better. Also, it's 911 on first gen SPOTs, SOS on second gen SPOTs.

I'm with Canoedogs on this issue. I have canoed the BWCA for 5 days straight without a drop of carried-in water. Just dipped a plastic cup over the side whenever I wanted and took a long cold drink of glacier water. Do I advise anyone to do this? No, but I did it for years. Mild filtration or heat treatment totally eliminates the need to carry water there.

I see what you're saying and agree. If there's readily available water, then why pack that heavy stuff. I was assuming, since they appeared to be quite dehydrated, that perhaps the lake water was undrinkable. Maybe they just didn't know to hydrate regularly? Sounds like a combination of heat and dehydration did them in.

HJ

If those guy's had seen that episode of, Bear Grylls giving himself an Enema with Very fouled,fowled water,they more than likely would have concluded,You can pack water,& Enjoy it or You can fudge pack water,& probably Not enjoy it!